May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice
by Freedom Fighter
Summary: It's the sequel to the 2007 hit "May's Expedition!" This time around, Dawn is the lead in this parody of the 2nd-generation 'Mystery Dungeon' games, with May as the sidekick! Friends and enemies of both will collide. And, yes, Kelly's back too!
1. Prologue

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Well, who would've thunk it... but welcome to the sequel of the hilarious 'Pokémon Mystery Dungeon' parody known as "May's Awesomely Youthful and Stupendously Unique Expedition."

If you read the original, which was released in 2007, then you're already bracing yourself for more of the insanity that you loved back then. If you haven't... well, it's not required that it be read beforehand, but there may be a small handful of jokes that you won't get otherwise. I still recommend checking it out... it's worth the time.

As stated above, this is a 'Pokémon Mystery Dungeon' parody. In this case, it's based on the sequel set of games, -Explorers of Time/Explorers of Darkness-. Don't worry if you haven't played them... truth be told, I haven't either. I'm going off some online strategy guides for reference, though I won't stick to the game script 100%. I didn't with the first one, and the same applies here.

This time around, Dawn is the star of the series! Who will she share the spotlight with? Which characters from the anime can you expect to see? Read on and find out...

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

-  
**Prologue (06.21.10)**  
-

"Hi! My name is Dawn, and I'm from Twinleaf Town! And this is my story!"

Dawn was sitting on the grass, in front of a camera that was set up on a tripod. Behind her, Brock was busy cooking lunch, while Ash, Pikachu, and Piplup were frolicking about. After looking back at Piplup to make sure he was alright, Dawn turned her attention back to the camera.

"You probably are already aware that I'm a Pokémon Coordinator, and that I'm trying to get to the Grand Festival," Dawn said aloud. "Well, by the time you see this, I'll be world famous! Wow... I can just see it now..."

* * *

_Age 14_

Dawn rejoiced as she stood atop the podium at the Sinnoh Grand Festival, holding up a beautiful multi-color ribbon in her right hand and a sparkling golden trophy in her left. Piplup and Buneary were dancing at her feet, celebrating Dawn's greatest triumph.

"And once again, folks," the PA announcer stated, "this year's Sinnoh Grand Festival Champion... Dawn!"

The sold-out stadium crowd roared with approval, but the loudest cheers and applause were coming from Ash, Brock, Zoey, and Kenny. And with them was Dawn's mom, who could do nothing but shed tears of blissful joy.

"I knew..." she mumbled to herself, "there was no need to worry."

Dawn stood there and let the moment sink in, as the cheering went on for minutes and minutes and minutes...

* * *

_Age 15_

Dawn was sitting inside an office with several Pokémon dress drawings, works-in-progress, and finished products strewn all over the place and hanging on the walls. The door into her office was held wide open, providing a perfect view into the main lobby. And freshly glued onto the door's translucent window was a nameplate that read 'Dawn, Executive Vice President.'

All of a sudden, Zoey ran in, holding a green and a white envelope with the company logo, 'Mon Style.

"Bad, bad news!" Zoey shouted in panic.

"What?" Dawn asked. "The Soothing Jigglypuff designs came back with even more changes?"

"No! Remember when I said earlier today that Hermione wanted that Bodacious Buneary prototype dress in three weeks?"

"Well... yeah..."

"I kinda... goofed. That letter was dated three weeks ago. She wants it on her desk today by five."

"Say **WHAT** now?"

* * *

_Age 16_

Dawn and Leona were chatting as they walked through the mall. Eventually, they reached their destination, as they saw Ash, Brock, Kenny, and Zoey sitting at their usual table, positioned right next to a giant orange. Dawn stepped behind it and opened it up, as the orange was not only hollow inside, but hosted a small assortment of juice mixing and display apparatus. Dawn put on a white apron that had a small orange stitched on around the chest area, and then followed that up by placing an orange hat on her head. Or rather, half an orange.

"I can't believe I have to work here until I pay off all of those credit cards," sighed Dawn.

"I kept telling you they were for company purchases only," Zoey reminded her. "I still can't believe I got fired along with you."

"No need to worry!" Brock told them. "There's over a hundred stores here in the mall, and I'm sure they're all hiring!"

"You would know," Leona said to him, "given you've probably been fired by most of them."

"Hey!"

Dawn shook her head. "This can't get any worse..."

* * *

_Age 17_

It was the night of senior prom, though no one was dancing as the most magical couple in the room stepped into the spotlight. Abba's 'Dancing Queen' began to play as disco-style lights began to filter throughout the room as the couple made their way to center. Dawn was one-half of the golden couple, and she sighed with delight as her mysterious dance partner spun her around and around.

"This is the happiest moment of my life!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Mine too," added her dance partner.

"I must be the luckiest girl in the world... to have you as my date, Mac Afron!"

Suddenly, the music stopped and the lights came up. Dawn turned one way and saw both Kenny and Clarissa Hedgens crying in dismay and sorrow, respectively. She then turned the other and saw Zoey and Tiffany Tisdole seething with anger and feelings of betrayal.

"I guess this isn't a good time to announce I'm in the running for prom queen, huh?" Dawn sheepishly admitted.

* * *

Dawn was snapped out of her vision of the future by Piplup, who had gotten worried and had been tugging at Dawn's left sock for a good minute or two now.

"Thanks, Piplup!" Dawn said as she picked Piplup off of the ground. "For a dreamy vision of the future, it sure wasn't all that dreamy."

"Piplup! Pip pip, piplup!"

"What? Oh, yeah! I guess I got a little off-track there."

Piplup nodded in agreement. "Lup."

Dawn turned her attention back to the still-recording camera.

"What I'm actually here to do is to tell you of an interesting side story, one that you'll all love! And better yet, Pokémon USA unofficially approves of it!"

"Pip!"

"You see, it starts on a deserted coastline beach..."

* * *

"Wingull! Wingull! Wingull!"

Dawn was stirred awake by the sound of a flock of Wingull passing by overhead. As she opened her eyes, she noticed that there was a Torchic sitting on the sand just a few feet away, her beak buried deep in a book.

"What's a Torchic doing all the way out here by itself?" Dawn thought to herself.

Dawn slowly got to her feet, and as she did, the Torchic looked up from her book.

"So, what are doing out of here all by yourself, little one?" Dawn asked the Torchic.

"I could ask you the same question, roly poly!" she replied.

Dawn freaked out, nearly jumping out of her own skin!

"You... you... you... you can talk?"

"Well, yeah! You come from a town of mute Pokémon or something?"

"Pokémon? But I'm not..."

Torchic sighed in disbelief. "I always seem to meet the disbelievers."

She searched her feathers before coming across a small compact mirror, which she pulled out and gave to Dawn. Dawn took the compact and opened it so that she could the mirror, and thusly, a reflection of her face in it.

Her cute, ten-year old human face.

But instead she saw the face of a different cutie. The face of a cutie of a Pokémon.

The face... of a Piplup.

Dawn was stunned speechless, as all of the color disappeared from her puffy penguin face. She stood there for several minutes on end, as Torchic tried to snap her back to reality. But after a few attempts, Torchic shrugged and went back to reading her book.

***** To be continued... *****


	2. Chapter One

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Quick turnaround, as we move right into Chapter 1!

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

-  
**Chapter One (06.21.10)**  
-

"..."

A couple of hours had passed, and Torchic was walking along the beach, sipping from a small water bottle she was holding in her right wing.

"..."

In her left wing, she was holding a small, odd-shaped rock with unnatural markings on it. She lifted it up to her face, trying to examine it as she walked.

"..."

Then suddenly, without warning, she ran right smack into the back of a brick wall. Or, a Pokémon that felt like a brick wall. She fell backwards onto the sand, the impact with it just strong enough to jar both the bottle and the small rock out of her wings. Water poured out of the bottle, soaking the sand to Torchic's right, even as she scrambled to pick it up. By the time she did, less than a quarter of the bottle remained. Visibly upset, she turned to the Pokémon in question to let out her frustration on.

"That was natural spring water! **DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS COSTS?**"

"..."

"**HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING...**"

Torchic stopped when she realized whom she had ran into. It was Piplup. The same Piplup she had met several hours earlier... and who was still frozen in stunned silence.

"It's... you?"

* * *

After bringing Piplup back to her senses, Torchic watched as the water-type scarfed down two Oran Berries and drank what was left of the bottle of natural spring water.

"So..." Torchic began, "you really don't think you're a Pokémon?"

"Well, no," Piplup replied. "At least I wasn't yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Well, yesterday, I was a human."

"A human, huh? We don't get many of those around here. There's a town of Pokémon nearby. Maybe they can help."

"I guess they'll have to **OH MY GOSH LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!**"

Before Torchic could turn around to see what Piplup was warning her about, she found herself on the receiving end of a Wing Attack, which sent her flying face-first into the sand.

"Torchic!" Piplup yelled out.

"You're supposed to say Piplup!" a creepy voice remarked from right behind Piplup.

"**EEEEEKKKKKK!**"

Piplup quickly ran to the nearest giant rock and hid herself behind it. Gasping for air as she shivered in fright, Piplup was trying her best to keep quiet, in hopes that the attackers would go away.

"They're such weaklings!" she heard a shrill, female voice say aloud. "It's not worth finishing them off. Let's just get what we came for and scoot."

"That's too bad," stated the voice of the one who had snuck on Piplup, albeit a little less creepy sounding. "That Piplup was kind of..."

"Will you think with the right head for once and find... oh wait, there it is!"

Some trumpeting fanfare was heard in the background, and then sounds of wings flapping away filled the air. Once she couldn't hear the sound anymore, Piplup finally started to calm down.

"Whew... that was close. Who were those two creeps?"

"Jessie and Conway."

"So their names are Jessie and Conway... **HUH?**"

Piplup looked up and saw Torchic standing on top of the rock she had been hiding behind.

"Those snakes... they stole my treasure!"

"Treasure?"

"I've got to get it back!" Torchic exclaimed as she hopped off the rock and ran off to the east.

"Wait a minute!" Piplup shouted as she got up and chased after Torchic. "We still haven't figured out the solution to my problem!"

* * *

After a few minutes of running on the beach, Piplup and Torchic arrived at the entrance to a cave. A small wooden sign nailed into one of the rock faces read BEACH CAVE.

"This is it!" Torchic said. "Let's go!"

"Wait! How do you know that they're in there?" Piplup asked.

"Trust me... it's not the first time those two have stolen treasure from me!"

Piplup shrugged her shoulders. "If you say so, Torchic."

"May. Call me May."

"Oh! Well, okay then! I'm Dawn!"

"Pleased to meet you!" they both said in unison, before a weird feeling came over them as they shook hands. "I swear your name sounds familiar..."

"No need to worry," Dawn told May. "Let's just get your treasure back!"

May nodded in agreement, and then the two proceeded into the cave.

* * *

BEACH CAVE 1F

Dawn and May made their way through the cave, which had lights hanging from both sides to illuminate the paths before them. Other than the lights, there was nothing else inside the cave... aside from a few sleeping Shellder.

"Isn't a little early to be sleeping?" Dawn wondered out loud.

"Makes it easier for us... we don't have to go through them," May replied.

"Go through them?"

"We are technically trespassing in their home. They have a right to attack us if they want to."

"You mean... like them?"

"Well, normally, yes, but they're asleep..."

"Not the Shellder... those!"

Dawn was pointing at a pair of Kabuto in front of them. And they were glaring angrily.

"I don't suppose you know how to defend yourself, do you?"

"Um, well..."

May sighed, then raced forward with her claws drawn.

"I guess it's up to me! Here I come!"

May used Scratch on one of the Kabuto, but it wasn't very effective. The Kabuto responded by using Tackle to ram into May, knocking her off of her feet.

"Aaahhh!" Dawn screamed. "I have to do something or we're both done for! Okay, okay... let's see... if I'm a Piplup..."

The other Kabuto turned its attention towards Dawn and attempted Tackle on her. Suddenly, Dawn snapped her fingers, becoming aware of what she had to do.

"Okay Piplup, uh, I mean me... use Bubble!"

Dawn's Bubble attack launched from her mouth and towards the two Kabuto. After each of the Kabuto made contact with a bubble or two, they both fainted on the spot.

"I did it? **I DID IT!**"

Dawn jumped up and down in jubilation, as May couldn't believe what she just saw.

"For someone who doesn't know how to defend herself, you're pretty strong," complimented May.

"Thanks! I guess it helps that I've bonded so well with my Piplup!"

"Your... Piplup?"

"Long story. Let's just go get your treasure!"

* * *

BEACH CAVE PIT

After heading down further in, the girls ended up in a huge pit that served as the deepest point in the cave. They found a Zubat and a Koffing waiting for them, and behind them, in the corner of the room, was a strange little rock with markings on it. Torchic instantly recognized it as the one stolen from her and pointed at it.

"Alright, give me back my treasure!" May demanded.

"So it's the Torchic twerpette," noted the Zubat, whom Dawn recognized as the shrill female voice from earlier.

"And friend..." Koffing remarked creepily... from just behind Dawn's right shoulder.

"**EEEEE!**" Dawn screamed, leaping off of her feet and into May's wings.

"Geez... jumpy much?" May asked as she calmly put Dawn back down on the ground.

"You know how it is in the world of treasure hunting," Koffing told them. "Finders' keepers and all that. Right, Jessie?"

Koffing looked at Jessie, the Zubat, who picked up the rock and started to caress it in her arms.

"Exactly, Conway! That's how Team Skunk-Up-in-Here rolls!"

Dawn and May were dumbfounded. "Team... Skunk Up in Here?"

"No, no, you got say it like you're street! Team Skunk-Up-in-Here! Don't you twerpettes knowz anythang?"

"They're just dopes, dope," Conway added.

"Fo' shnizel to the J-E-double S-I-E-zel!"

"You can't be serious!" the girls exclaimed in unison.

"Just believe this!" Jessie said to them. "You're not getting your treasure back, and that's that!"

"Word to your moth... okay, really, I can't get into this! This is not what I signed up for."

"You'll do the routine and like it, creepy glasses teenager who as a human looks like an older version of Max!"

"Who's Max?" the girls asked together.

Jessie slaps her forehead with her wing. "Never mind. Let's just get those fools!"

Jessie and Conway rushed in, with Jessie using Supersonic and Conway coughing out Smog. In an instant, Dawn and May found themselves stumbling around a black gas cloud, dazed and confused.

Or they should've been, for as the smoke cleared, Jessie and Conway were both sprawled out on the cavern floor, unconscious. A few feet away, the two heroines were standing triumphantly, with May holding her recovered treasure in her left wing.

"That's amazing!" Dawn squealed joyfully. "How did we do that?"

"It just felt natural," May answered. "Like I knew what to do."

"Wow! Are we going to explain it to the readers at home?"

"Not if we wanna get through the whole storyline in ten chapters or less! Now, come on... we've got something to do."

May started walking towards the cave's exit, leaving a befuddled Dawn to try and figure out what she meant by that remark.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, the girls emerged from Beach Cave and started heading in the direction of Treasure Town. May kept one eye on the path in front of her and the other on her treasure. Dawn followed close behind, already getting weary of the fast pace they were walking at.

"Why are we in such a rush?"

"Because I wanna find out how much this rock is worth."

"But... what about my problem?"

"Huh? Oh... the 'I'm not supposed to be a Pokémon' thing. I haven't forgotten. In fact, where we're going, we can get both tasks done at once!"

"But... where are we going?"

Dawn then ran into the back of May, who had stopped without warning. Dawn fell backwards and landed on her tail, her limbs flailing around as she struggled to get back up.

"Don't be a Squirtle... that's so cliché! You're better than that!"

May grabbed Dawn by the arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Whew... thanks!"

"No problem, Dawn. Now, as for your question, before I can answer it, I need to ask you a question myself."

Dawn blinked. "Eh?"

* * *

"You want me to do **WHAT**?"

Dawn and May were standing in front of giant building marked with the sign 'Wigglytuff's Exploration Guild.'

"Form an Exploration Team with me!" May told Dawn. "I've always wanted to be a part of one, but the Guild won't let anyone fly solo."

"So you want me to team up with you?"

"Uh huh! And who knows... we might just find the answers you're looking for!"

Dawn sighed. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Not unless you want to stand here doing nothing for the next two months."

The two girls walked up to the front door and knocked on it. Seconds later, the ground opened up underneath them and the duo fell into a hole.

"**AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**"

* * *

A few minutes later, Dawn and May were lying unconscious on the cold, cold ground. Suddenly, another bird Pokémon walked into the room.

"It must be those Bulbapedia salesmen again!" the bird grumbled. "I told you before, I don't see the point in an online encyclopedia that has 16,000 articles on Bulbasaur! The fact that there's not even one on Chatot is beyond..."

The bird, revealed to be a Chatot himself as he came into the light, suddenly realized that the two bodies in front of him weren't salesmen.

"There should really be a 'Watch Your Step' sign up there," Dawn murmured as she woke up.

"This is why I could never get into theatre," growled May as she rubbed her beak. "Too many trap doors!"

"You're not salesmen!" Chatot squawked. "You're not even men... you're girls!"

Looking to quickly correct his mistake, Chatot produced two roses out of nowhere and offered them to Dawn and May as an apology.

"Please forgive my mistake," he said to them. "We've had problems with door-to-door salesmen that can't take a hint."

"Apology accepted," Dawn responded, taking both roses and taking a whiff of their intoxicating yet delightful smell.

"Where are my manners? My name is Drew, and I'm second-in-command here at Wigglytuff's Exploration Guild."

"I'm Dawn," Piplup introduced herself, before pointing to Torchic. "And she's May..."

"And we're here because we want to be an Exploration Team!" May exclaimed.

"Well, then... you'll have to meet with the boss himself. Wigglytuff has sole authority over who may be a member of his guild."

* * *

Before they knew it, May and Dawn were standing before Wigglytuff, the leader of the guild, in the main hall. Along with the guild leader and Drew, two other current members, Loudred and Corphish, were also present.

"My name is Wallace the Wigglytuff," he introduced himself, "and I am the reigning champion... uh, pardon me, leader of this very guild! Before you can join my guild, you must answer a few questions!"

"Um... okay," the two girls said in unison, accepting the conditions.

"First off... what are your names?"

"May."

"Dawn."

"Wait, you're **BOTH** girls? Welcome to the Wigglytuff Guild, ladies!"

"Just like that?" questioned May. "What's the catch!"

"No catch," Wallace replied. "It's just that, well, Grace here believes in making sure we have an equal number of males and females in the guild."

"**EQUAL REPRESENTATION IS THE ONLY POLITICALLY CORRECT WAY TO GO!**" yelled Grace the Loudred.

"Loud much?" Dawn remarked as she massaged her ears with her paws.

"No offense," May continued on, "but I feel it's not right that I worked so hard to get in here, and all I got for my troubles was a free pass."

"Just be glad ye honorable guild leader be in a merry mood," noted Corphish. "I, Nando, have had been unfortunate to be around him the few times he be wanting to skin a cat."

Drew dragged over a burlap sack and placed it in front of the girls.

"In this is everything you need to be an Exploration Team," he told them. "We'll explain more in detail tomorrow."

"Why not..."

May never got to finish her sentence as she was clothes-lined by Grace, rendering her unconscious instantly.

"My apologies in advance," Nando said as he suddenly appeared behind Dawn. "I do this to ye only because it be guild policy."

Nando's left claw glowed as he brought it down on Dawn's head, and then...

* * *

"**RISE AND SHINE! ALL GUILD MEMBERS MUST REPORT FOR BREAKFAST, DOUBLE TIME!**"

Grace's loud voice over the guild's public address system brought both Dawn and May out of their concussion-induced sleep. Both were surprised to be lying in two small beds placed next to each other, with only a miniature coffee table between them.

"That was some initiation, huh?" May winced as she rubbed her head.

"I'd feel better if I knew what they subjected us to," Dawn uttered with worry.

"Well, other than a major headache, I don't see any way they changed us physically. But I'd be able to examine myself more clearly after I get something to eat."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get our grub on!"

* * *

The two girls were surprised to be greeted in the dining hall by a round of laughter. And they quickly found out why. Plastered on a huge poster board that extended from the floor to the ceiling was a picture taken last night.

In it, May was dressed as Dora the Explorer and Dawn was dressed as Boots, her sidekick.

"What is this?" May asked.

"Yeah!" Dawn added. "Why am I Boots? I look more like Dora than May does!"

"Not helping," sweatdropped May.

"Sorry," Drew apologized again. "Kelly loves to play dress-up whenever we get new female recruits."

Drew pointed the girls' attention in the direction of Kelly, who is a Diglett.

"Dressing up other girls is fun!" she exclaimed.

"That's not creepy at all," Dawn muttered sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest as she shuddered.

"Hello there!" greeted Wallace as he had just noticed the girls' arrival. "I trust you had a peaceful slumber?"

"Is it okay if I answer that with a no," Dawn started, "because..."

"Anyway, I did some thinking last night and the Torchic was right."

"I was?" May blinked in confusion. "About what?"

"We really should send you two out on a mission to make sure you have what it takes to be an Exploration Team!"

Wallace handed a piece of paper with mission specifications on it.

"We have two clients, a Marill and an Azurill, who lost something on Mount Bristle. Your mission is to help them find it."

"That sounds great and all, but... when do we leave?"

Seconds later, Dawn, May, and the burlap sack of supplies they had been given yesterday were shot out of a cannon, in Mount Bristle's direction.

* * *

MOUNT BRISTLE 7F

Dawn, May, and Marill were later seen making their way through the inner caverns of the mountain. All three had received plenty of battle damage along the way, but they had managed to reach the top floor without dying.

"I thought you said this would be fun AND that I'd find out why I'm here in the first place!" Dawn shouted at May.

"How was I supposed to know it would be this difficult?" May shot back. "It's not like I've been through a 'Mystery Dungeon' parody before!"

Marill whistled innocently as she kicked an autographed copy of the script for "May's Awesomely Youthful and Stupendously Unique Expedition" behind a nearby rock.

"Figures that our first mission turns from a normal 'search' mission to an 'escort' mission. Those are always tough because the clients always turn out to be some weakling who you must protect, because you automatically fail if they get killed!"

"At least it looks like we've run out of steps to climb," commented Dawn. "This must be the top floor."

Marill searched the room for her missing travel partner, Azurill. She finally noticed him sitting in the far corner of the cavern, tied up with rope. Without thinking, she ran over to free him.

"Tory!" Marill cried out Azurill's name.

"Molly!" Azurill cried out in return to his savior.

"Wait a minute!" May shouted, noticing Molly moving away from her and Dawn. "It might be a..."

A cage fell from the ceiling, entrapping Molly several feet short of her reaching Tory. Just as quickly, a second cage fell, this one caging Dawn and May before they could dodge it.

"...trap," May finished her sentence.

Sinister laughter filled the cavern as their captor emerged from the shadows. So we have to ask...

"**WHO'S THAT POKEMON?**" questioned Dawn.

"It's Entei!" Molly squealed.

"It's Deoxys!" suggested Tory.

But May had the correct answer. "Actually, it's..."

* * *

"Drowzee!"

Kelly shook her head at Dugtrio. "What you talkin' 'bout, Zoey?"

"I remember someone once told me that Drowzee look like baby Phanpy that can stand on their hind legs and are half-covered in yellow paint!"

"That's just weird."

"Weird? You dressed up Pokémon in clothes! Clothes!"

"Now I think about it, that was pretty weird. I forgot that, in general, Pokémon are naked all the time. But I guess that explains why it feels so right whenever I touch one!"

Zoey raised an eyebrow at that remark.

"Kelly... why? Just... just why?"

"I hope I'm not interrupting an important conversation," Drew said as he flew in.

"Your timing couldn't be better," replied Zoey. "I was just about to change the Bulletin and Outlaw Boards."

Zoey used her mouth to grab and pull down the switch. After a few seconds, the boards updated electronically. And the new entry atop the Outlaw Board is...

"Drowzee!"

"What?" Kelly and Zoey shouted simultaneously.

"There's a dangerous Drowzee on the loose! And he was last seen in... Mount Bristle!"

Kelly gasped. "That's where Dawn and May are, isn't it?"

Zoey sighed. "So much for having normal girls in the guild."

"We must get a message out there and warn them!" Drew suggested.

* * *

"You know, they should've sent us a message and warned us about butting heads with an outlaw," Dawn stated aloud.

"I never would've guessed that we'd get killed on our first mission," May cried. "I'm just sorry I dragged you into this, Dawn!"

"I'm sorry I agreed to be dragged into this!"

"It's time to make you two disappear!" Drowzee cackled evilly.

Drowzee advanced on the cage holding Dawn and May, with a sinister look on his face.

* * *

While the girls prepare to meet their doom, elsewhere, in some unknown location in the world, a Grovyle was in the midst of snatching a small, black gear that was spinning in mid-air beside a 100-year old tree. Upon grabbing it, he immediately took off, heading in a southerly direction.

"Once I grab all of these," he said aloud, "I will be the main character, just like I am in everything! Mwa ha ha ha ha!"

As Grovyle left the scene, time came to a halt in the tree's general vicinity, as all life began to freeze itself in place...

***** To be continued... *****


	3. Chapter Two

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Some of you may have noticed this, but unlike the original, here in the sequel, the characters are being referred to by who is actually 'voicing' said Pokémon, rather than the Pokémon itself. I hope that actually makes the cast a little easier to follow.

That being said, onto this week's installment!

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

-  
**Chapter Two (06.28.10)**  
-

MOUNT BRISTLE 7F

"So I guess this is the end," Dawn said remorsefully, having given up.

"Just think of the one moment of your life that you'll never forget," suggested May. "If we have to die, at least we'll die happy!"

"Hmmmm..." Dawn began to think.

* * *

_A few hours earlier, at the Wigglytuff Guild..._

_Dawn and May were covering their ears as they heard their guild's theme song for the first time, as sung horribly by the other members._

_[Guild theme song plays, to the tune of the 'Fanboy and Chum Chum' theme]_  
_Here we go cause we're Wigglytuff Guild!_  
_A little coo-coo, Wigglytuff Guild!_  
_We're amazing, totally crazy Wigglytuff Guild, do what everybody says!_

_We're gonna scream at the top of our lungs!_  
_We're gonna fly and have some fun!_  
_We don't care if you stare I mean, look at our underwear!_

_"**STOP!**" Dawn yelled, bringing the singing to a screeching halt._

_"Who dares stop the traditional morning singing of our guild's theme song?" Wigglytuff asked, upset._

_"That's a theme song?" gagged May. "That's horrible!"_

_Dawn pulled out a stereo from their burlap sack._

_"That's not a theme song! **THIS** is a theme song!"_

_Dawn pushed play..._

_[Theme song plays, to the tune of the Season 11 U.S. opening]_  
_On a world, far from home_  
_Dawn has become a Pokémon_  
_May is back, will she get her revenge?_  
_Read on to find out!_

_These two are heroes_  
_They can find some loot if they try_  
_Piplup and Torchic_  
_Busting baddies, bird beak style!_

_This is a sequel!_  
_Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon!_

* * *

"That's the one moment of your life you'll never forget?"

"Yeah! It's a great theme song, don'tcha think?"

The cage around Dawn and May began rising back towards the ceiling, but the girls were too busy to notice.

"I do admit it's kind of catchy, but... there's so many things wrong with that flashback, I don't know where to begin!"

Dawn smiled slyly. "Jealous you didn't think of it first?"

"This has nothing to do with me being jealous!"

Dawn began to dance around.

"Jealous, jealous, jealous!"

"Am not, am not, am not!"

It seemed as if it was going to take a miracle to stop their arguing and get them focused on the turn of events that had just occurred in their favor.

Or their beaks getting shut by a pair of handcuffs.

"Okay, baddies, you're busted!"

Dawn and May found themselves unable to talk, as a Magnemite floated in front of them.

"You've done it again, Deputy Marble," someone said in the background.

"Tee hee," Marble chuckled. "I've done a great job, haven't I?"

"You arrested the wrong Pokémon!"

Marble winced at the discovery that she had screwed up again, as the girls looked to see Marble's boss, a Magnezone, floating above Drowzee, who was now tied up with rope.

"How dare you!" Drowzee objected. "I am Butler the Magnificent! The only person allowed to tie me up is me! Andmygirlfriend..."

"Two more hostages safe and sound," reported a second Magnemite, with a freed and ecstatic Molly and Tory beside her. "The area's also secure, as per your request, Sheriff Jack!"

"Thank you, Deputy Kidd!" Jack the Magnezone said in reply. "At least there's one-half of Team Magnezone Ranger that's dependable!"

Marble undid the handcuffs on Dawn and May's beaks and bowed in apology.

"Sorry about that! I'm still working on the whole being a deputy thing."

"Not a problem," May said in reply, though she was rubbing her sore beak. "But did you have to lock them on so tight?"

"Say," Dawn wondered aloud as she looked at Jack, "how did you tie Drowzee up if you don't have any arms?"

"It's a technique passed down from generation to generation called shut the hell up!"

['Shut the hell up!' Counter: 1]

"Wait... what's that?" May asked, pointing at the counter.

"That little thing? It's a counter that the fans gave me because I'm so cool, unlike a certain other Pokémon Ranger!"

"Solana sucks!" echoed a random voice from somewhere in the cavern.

"It's a perk for actually being in one of the movies! You're in luck, too... I had to reset it after Marble borrowed it last week."

Marble grinned sheepishly. "I took it to a JONAS convention."

"I'm afraid she'll overload it again at the next chance she gets, so I'm giving it to you girls."

"That's great!" Dawn rejoiced.

"It's easy to use," Jack instructed. "All you have to do is say the key phrase whenever someone asks you a stupid question!"

* * *

To move the story along because we only have 20 kilobytes of space to offer per chapter, the entire group was now seen at the entrance of the Wigglytuff Guild, where Molly and Tory were paying Dawn and May for helping them on their mission, while Wallace, Drew, Team Magnezone, and a still-bound-with-rope Butler looked on.

"Wait, why didn't they just pay them back on the mountain?" Marble asked.

"Why don't you shut the hell up!" answered Jack.

['Shut the hell up!' Counter: 2]

"See?"

"This'll come in handy later on in this story," foreshadowed May.

Team Magnezone said their farewells, then headed off to take Butler to prison. Molly and Tory left in the opposite direction, happy as can be. That left Dawn and May to admire the spoils of the first mission.

"Legal swipe!" Drew reached in, taking away 90 percent of the girls' take.

"**HEY!**"

"You guys never paid us your membership fee," Wallace explained, "as well as the expenses for your starter kit of supplies, and other... miscellaneous... things..."

Wallace then sprinted back into the building with all his new money. Dawn and May both opened their wings and realized they had been left with a grand total of one coin per wing.

"This is why I hate being an American representation of a Japanese character," growled May. "Stupid taxes..."

"That reminds me," Drew cut in. "You two girls never decided upon a team name. You have to let me know by the end of the chapter, or else you'll be kicked out of the guild."

"This just keeps getting better and better," quipped Dawn sarcastically.

"Oh, and to reward you for completing your first mission, take this!"

Drew gave Dawn an Enlarged Treasure Bag, which is twice as big as the one in their starter kit.

"I'm sure we'll fill this up," Dawn continued on, "**IN ABOUT 500 YEARS!**"

"Speaking of things we forgot to do," May said as she pulled out the aforementioned starter kit, "we never saw what was actually in here."

May started pulling stuff out of their burlap sack, beginning with the now useless Treasure Bag. She also then pulled out a pair of Explorer Badges, a Wonder Map, a few small rocks, and two yellow-colored bows.

"The badges are your license to do Exploration Team missions," Drew told them. "It's illegal to participate in one without it. The Wonder Map is self-explanatory. And the bows are essentially your uniform. When on Guild business, they must be worn."

"How come no one else in the Guild is wearing one?" asked Dawn as she put hers on, as May did the same in the background.

"What do you mean?" Drew said in return, a pink bow now pinned under his neck.

"When did you..."

"I thought you were a boy," May cut off Dawn's attempt at a stupid question. "Why is yours pink?"

Drew laughed nervously. "Well..."

* * *

_Many years ago, at a previous induction ceremony..._

_Kid-aged versions of Wallace the Wigglytuff, then a Jigglypuff, and Drew the Chatot... still a Chatot, are seen being given pink bows._

_"Because the elder of you two is pink," stated the unidentifiable guild leader at the time, "and because we need reason to make fun of two guys all the time for liking a girly color, you will both be the Pink Squad."_

* * *

"It was the only unclaimed color at the time," Drew lied as he blushed with embarrassment.

"I feel these rocks will also come in use at some point," May predicted.

"What use could we have for rocks?" queried Dawn.

"I'm sure we'll find a purpose for them."

"Hey, guys!" greeted Kelly, popping up out of the ground.

Dawn reached for an armful of rocks and held them above her head, ready to throw them at Kelly...

"As much as you may feel she deserves it," May stopped her, "we don't hurt fellow Guild members!"

"I'm glad I caught you guys!" exclaimed Kelly, apparently oblivious to the fact that her life just flashed before her eyes. "It's time to show you another duty you're required to do once a week, as per the Guild regulations!"

* * *

Minutes later, Dawn and May were standing with pink hard hats on their noggins and fake rifles in their arms.

"So all Sentry Duty involves is just making sure no one that's suppose to be on Guild property doesn't get on Guild property," Kelly explained.

"That reminds me," cut in Dawn. "Why was there no one on Sentry Duty when we first came here?"

"Oh, will you look at the time," Kelly said, glancing down at an imaginary watch. "Time to go shopping for new clothes for you! Bye!"

Kelly then disappeared into the ground and headed downtown.

* * *

Several hours later...

"I don't know what's worse," growled Dawn, as she and May laid bored on the dirt ground. "The fact that we've done absolutely nothing all day, or that Kelly's buying a new wardrobe for her to dress us up in."

"Someone tell me why she's my friend in the anime?" May asked out loud. "Because someone that obsessive over girls doesn't seem like best friend material to me."

"Kelly left you on Sentry Duty, huh?"

Dawn and May sat up to see who had asked that question. They were greeted by the sight of a Chimecho.

"You must be another member of the Guild!" deduced Dawn.

"That's right!" Chimecho nodded. "My name's Kenny. You need to be careful about Kelly... she always finds excuses to get others to take her Sentry Duty shift for her. Anyway, I have the next shift, so... you guys can head inside."

"Thanks a lot!" Dawn gratefully said as she and May headed in.

"You're welcome," Kenny said in response, hiding his blushing face.

* * *

Later that night, with May already in bed and fast asleep, Dawn slipped under the covers of her bed to turn in for the night.

"Here's hoping for a good night's sleep," she thought to herself.

With that, Dawn closed her eyes...

* * *

The sun was beating down on a desert as a strange figure was digging through the sand, as if he was searching for something. But his search was coming to an end, as he stopped and pulled out a small object.

It was a small black gear.

Upon closer glance, the figure turned out to be Grovyle.

"I'm gonna be the main character soon..." he said sing-songedly.

He then reached down to unsheathe his leaf...

* * *

"**GETCHA MIND OUTTA DA GUTTA!**" yelled Grace over the PA. "**THIS IS A T-RATED FIC AND WE'RE KEEPING IT THAT WAY!**"

Dawn sprung awake thanks to the dream-interrupting wake-up call. Looking out the window and spotting the sun already up, she then glanced over to May's bed... only to find her not there.

* * *

After a little morning maintenance, Dawn found May in the main hall. Drew was busy passing out new mission assignments as chosen by Wallace, and the only other Guild member still there was a Bidoof.

"Northern Desert, alright!" Bidoof pumped his fist excitedly. "Alright, I'm outta here!"

Bidoof sprinted out of the room, bowling over Dawn and May in the process.

"Out of the way!" he yelled after the fact. "I'm off to find treasure!"

Drew sighed. "You're hoping he gets lost and dies of dehydration, aren't you?"

Wallace replied with a simple chuckle.

"If I didn't know better," Dawn noted, "that Bidoof was being played by Barry! He definitely does act like him, that's for sure!"

"Ah, the Yellow Squad is now here in full," Wallace said with a smile as the girls picked themselves up off the ground and dusted themselves off to look presentable.

"Good luck, ladies," Drew said, handing a piece of paper to Dawn while winking at May.

Dawn looked on the paper and saw that it had a picture of waterfall and a picture of a cave on it.

"I can't read pictures!" complained Dawn. "Do you have one of these in words?"

Wallace's response?

Dawn and May were fired off in the cannon towards Waterfall Cave.

* * *

WATERFALL CAVE B1F

Dawn and May proceeded into the cave with caution. But even that could not prepare them for the first threat that stepped into their path.

A shiny Tangela with brown, spiky hair.

"Hello, ladies," he smiled as he shined. "How about a night on the town? You two, me, and 64 of my friends?"

By friends, he meant the sensually-dancing tentacles that covered him.

"**WE'RE GROSSLY UNDERAGE, YOU SICK PERVERT!**" Dawn yelled.

Dawn took all of the rocks out of the burlap sack, as much as three times the total amount that could possibly fit in it, and tossed them all at Tangela. Two or three rocks probably would've knocked him out, but he was on the receiving end of about two or three hundred!

Tangela somehow made his way out from the pile, only to be greeted by Dawn and May glaring at him. He knew his goose was cooked if he didn't think of something.

"If you promise not to sue or send me to a dungeon where Chris Hansen is waiting," he pleaded, "I'll help you get through this dungeon!"

Dawn snapped her fingers, recognizing Tangela's voice.

"Brock! Why would you do something like that? It's out-of-character for you!"

She reached down, and with May's help, pulled Brock completely clear of the rubble.

"It's the writer's fault. He wanted me to represent the small group of fans that love you two too much for 10-year old girls that aren't even real. I'm only going along with this gig because it's the only role I was offered!"

But his brain didn't agree with him.

"Lame! You just don't wanna admit that you're into them... and wanna get into them! If you catch my drift! You know, hint hint, bump bump!"

"Shut up, libido!"

"Brock, who are you talking to?" May asked.

"Nobody," he covered up. "So... help?"

Dawn and May looked at each other for a second, then nodded in agreement. As soon as they did, their Explorer Badges floated out of their burlap sack, glowing white. Then, the badges suddenly became bronzed. Once the process was complete, the back of the paper that had the girls' mission location on it started glowing. After a few seconds, the glow disappeared, and some text had been left behind.

"Upon becoming bronze-level explorers, Rescue Teams can now recruit new members to their team!" Dawn read aloud.

"What a coincidence!" added May.

"Then that settles it!" Brock concluded. "I, Tangela, am now part of Team... Team... say, what's your team name, anyway?"

"Still working on that part," sighed Dawn.

* * *

WATERFALL CAVE B3F

It didn't take long for Dawn, May, and Brock to get into fights with some of the cave's other inhabitants. Like Poliwag, Wooper, and Lotad. As such, Brock began to impart his wisdom to the girls.

"Use the Gravelerock as a far-range projectile!" ordered Brock.

The girls did as they were told and buried the opposition.

* * *

WATERFALL CAVE B4F

After defeating two more Poliwag on the next floor, they left two uneaten Apples behind.

"Given how deep some dungeons are, you'll want to pick up food items such as Apples to keep your energy up and prevent starvation!"

"Delicious!" Dawn exclaimed, having already taken the hint and biting into one.

* * *

WATERFALL CAVE B6F

Following the defeat of a Surskit, it left a small seed behind as a reward. Still a little hungry, Dawn assumed it could be eaten and went over to grab it.

"Not as big as the apple, but it'll do..."

Dawn swallowed the seed in one gulp... and found herself Paralyzed!

"I guess I should mention that unlike Apples, Seeds have various effects. Some good, some bad. Obviously, the bad ones should be fed to enemies."

"Good to know," Dawn mumbled through her numb beak.

* * *

WATERFALL CAVE B8F

The gang was taking on a Whiscash and a pair of Barboach. Brock and May, in quick succession, took out the two Barboach. Upon doing so, numbers appeared above their heads: a '9' for Brock and a '10' for May.

"What's with the numbers?" Dawn asked.

"Those numbers represent our current Pokémon levels," replied Brock.

May then felt a fire burning in her stomach.

"I think I just learned a new attack! Ember!"

May used Ember on Whiscash! It's not very effective!

"What good's a new move if it doesn't work?" May scratched her head, confused.

"Fire-type moves are weak against water-types!" Brock told her.

"I'd better give it a try then!" Dawn cut in. "Pound!"

Dawn used Pound! Whiscash fainted!

"Alright! And I bet I gained a level, too!"

A '10' appeared above Dawn's head. She then shot a determined look in Whiscash's direction.

"Now, time to recruit a new team member! So, what do you say, Whiscash?"

The giant whale Pokémon took one look at Dawn, and swam away. Dawn became befuddled at this.

"Duh?"

"You can't recruit Pokémon unless they actually want to join the team!" explained Brock.

"That bites! Whiscash would've made a great powerhouse!"

May shrugged. "He'd look so out of place with us, anyway."

Dawn took a moment to think about all of their relative sizes... and agreed.

"Now that I think about it, he was a lot bigger than us, wasn't he? Still, I would like someone big just so we wouldn't be bullied by others."

"She wants someone big?" Brock thought to himself. "Well, let me just evolve and..."

Brock tried to evolve! It failed!

"Damn it!"

* * *

WATERFALL CAVE - GEM ZONE

The trio arrived at the cave's basement. They searched the Gem Zone area, but could find no Pokémon waiting to be rescued or fought. Dawn pulled back out their assignment to see what their mission was again.

"There's one more picture here!" Dawn noticed for the first time.

May and Brock walked up on either side of Dawn as the team leader pointed out a picture of Wigglytuff tugging at a red gem.

"I guess we should be looking for a red gem," deduced May.

Now that they knew what they were searching for, the trio's eyes scanned the cavern once again.

"Oh..." Dawn said, pointing in front of her, "there it is!"

May and Brock followed Dawn's pointing feather... to a ruby of diameter ten feet embedded in the wall. The trio ran over and examined the gem.

"With Brock's help, we can dislodge this in a snap!"

Brock used his tentacles to grab a hold of the gem. Once they all had a firm grip, he began to pull.

"Pull! Pull! Pull!" ordered Dawn.

"I'm pulling... ugh!" Brock growled.

The gem slowly began to start coming out. As it did, May noticed small streams of water starting to appear in various spots.

"Uh, guys?" she said with concern. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this..."

"I swear on Brock's grave that nothing bad is about to happen," Dawn said aloud.

"Wait... what?"

Brock started to object, but at that exact moment, the gem became separated from the wall... and a wall of raging water followed it out. In seconds, the mass amount of water had pushed the team out of the Gem Zone and into a small side cavern.

Dawn managed to fight the current just enough to get her head above the water's surface.

"May!" Dawn called out. "May!"

May popped her head up, flapping her water-soaked wings in a panic. Dawn grabbed May's wing and quickly calmed her down.

"Are you okay?"

May nodded as she coughed out some of the water that she had swallowed. Dawn asked her teammate another question, even as the sounds of raging water attempted to drown out her voice.

"Where's Brock?"

"I don't know..." answered May, "but I think we have bigger problems!"

May pointed ahead of them, as the flow of water was disappearing...

Disappearing over a waterfall!

"A waterfall in Waterfall Cave! How original!"

The girls started to swim for their lives, desperately fighting the speedy current to avoid getting sucked over the falls.

"You know, May, if we survive this... we should call ourselves Team Cliffhanger! Because we always seem to end chapters on cliffhangers!"

That was the last audible word that could be heard over the sound of the falls. Shortly thereafter, the two petite bird Pok mon were seen going over, flipping head over tail several times over, before disappearing into the rebound mists and fog below...

***** To be continued... *****


	4. Chapter Three

WATERFALL CAVE - LOCATION UNKNOWN?

Small pockets of steam could be seen rising out of the ground in a part of the cavern rarely traveled by any Pokémon because of the uneven terrain and hotter-than-normal temperatures.

But one of the few who could travel through this area safely was Torkoal. So you could see the surprise on his face when, on his daily walk, he spotted a Piplup and a Torchic face-down on the cave floor. Moving as fast as a Torkoal could, and that wasn't very fast, he went over to the two prone forms. Using his mouth, he picked the Piplup off of the ground and threw her onto his back. He then did the same for Torchic.

Once they were secured, he did an about face and walked out the way he had come in...

* * *

_[Theme song plays, to the tune of the Season 11 U.S. opening]_  
_On a world, far from home_  
_Dawn has become a Pokémon_  
_May is back, will she get her revenge?_  
_Read on to find out!_

_These two are heroes_  
_They can find some loot if they try_  
_Piplup and Torchic_  
_Busting baddies, bird beak style!_

_This is a sequel!_  
_Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon!_

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Dawn and May are about to get a surprise when they learn who the newest members of the Wigglytuff Guild are...

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

Warning: This chapter contains suggestive content that may not be suitable for children. Reader discretion is advised.

**-**  
**Chapter Three (07.05.10)**  
**-**

Dawn's eyes slowly opened. As she regained consciousness, she felt a warm liquid soothing every part of her body below her neck. Maybe a little too warm...

Dawn took stock of her surroundings and noticed that she was sitting in a Pokémon-made pool of water being heated by steam. In fact, she saw steam rising from the ground in numerous places in and out of the water. Dawn suddenly began to really feel the worst...

"So we really are dead?" Dawn thought to herself. "But this isn't anything like I imagined."

She then mentally gasped.

"Oh no! We must've been sent to H-E-double hockey sticks! But that can't be right! I'm a good girl!"

Suddenly, the sounds of sleeping could be heard. Dawn looked a few feet to her left. It was May, fast asleep with only her head above the water, looking up towards the ceiling as a bubble inflated and deflated from her right nostril as she snored.

"May's here too?" Dawn thought, nearly jumping out of her skin.

"No need to worry," an unfamiliar voice reassured her.

Torkoal slowly came into Dawn's sight, as he leisurely trotted towards the pool the two girls were currently in.

"Your friend there is just taking a little nap. You two must be really lucky to be alive, considering the state I found you girls in."

"Wait... you mean this isn't H-E-double hockey sticks?"

"Far from it. Welcome to the Torkoal Graceland Hot Springs Resort!"

"A Hot Springs Resort? Wait... why haven't I heard of this place before, forgetting the fact I've only been in this world a few days?"

"That's because it's not open to the public yet," replied Torkoal. "As you can probably tell, there's still some rough spots to be ironed out."

Torkoal pointed out the numerous visible steam jets, several unsorted piles of debris, and a drab d cor.

"Oh, by the way, my name's Newton Graceland! Pleasure to meet you!"

"The same Newton Graceland that did research in the Reverse World?"

"The very one! Now, I'm here as a Torkoal, studying this world!"

"Wow... we sure are getting a lot of movie characters in this parody, aren't we?"

Newton then slowly made his way into the hot spring the girls were in. Once his entire body was in, he rolled around until he was on his back, with only his head and neck sticking out of the water.

"Ah... I just love soaking in these hot springs!"

"Now that you mention it," relaxed Dawn, "I'm feeling a lot better all of a sudden!"

"That's the recuperative power of hot springs!"

Dawn closed her eyes and let the springs work their healing magic.

* * *

Several hours later, as the sun started to set, Newton had led the now-refreshed Dawn and May out of the cave and back to the outside world.

"You sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Newton asked as they walked off. "Tonight, we dine on turtle soup!"

"Love the offer," answered May, "but I'm pretty sure we should check in with our Guild so they know we're still alive."

"Drop us a line in Treasure Town when you get this place up and running!" requested Dawn.

"Oh," Newton suddenly remembered. "Don't forget to take your revenge, May!"

"Revenge?" both girls blinked.

They quickly turned around to ask what Newton was talking about, but he was already preoccupied, licking away at a bowl of soup.

"Ooh... I love being a turtle! And eating one... om nom nom!"

The girls shrugged their shoulders, then continued on their way.

"I'm sure we'll find the answer later on in this story," prognosticated May.

* * *

"And that's what happened to us at the Waterfall Cave," Dawn said, wrapping up a summary of their mission.

"It sounds just like a certain story I heard once before..." hinted Drew.

Wallace looked despondent. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Hmmm..." Dawn thought.

* * *

_In the past..._

_Wallace the Jigglypuff was tugging at the gem inside Waterfall Cave. Drew the Chatot flied up to stop him, but before he could get there, Wallace lost his grip and fell to the ground, taking Drew out unintentionally on the way down._

_"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."_

* * *

"How did you do that?" Wallace asked, not happy his past was dug up for reading pleasure without his permission.

"Easy!" Dawn answered. "I just do this and..."

Dawn pulled out May's treasure and...

* * *

_"Yo, yo, yo!" Jessie cheered. "Team Skunk-Up-in-Here is back in the hizz-house!"_

_"Now with even less accurate street slangity slang than before!" noted Conway._

* * *

"Wait a minute... was that the future?" Dawn asked out loud. "I thought this thing only had the power to see the past!"

"This thing had powers?" May gasped. "It must be worth a fortune!"

"That's actually the mystical Relic Fragment!" Drew told them, as he read from a 'Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness' unofficial official strategy guide by Brady Games.

"What does it say about it?" questioned the girls.

"It says it's a fragment of a relic. Uh, yeah... how undescriptive. Last time I ever buy one of their game guides."

"So I wonder what relic this thing is a part of..." thought Dawn.

"I'm sure we'll find out in due time," foretold May. "Now, let's hit the hay... we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow!"

* * *

Next day...

"As May predicted at the end of the last scene," Wallace said, addressing the entire guild, "there's a big day in store today! We are planning a huge expedition, and we'd like to invite you all to take part! But first, you all have to prove you're all capable of coming along, as this won't be your typical run-of-the-mill mission."

"Who knows?" May whispered to Dawn. "Maybe we can find a clue about why you got turned into a Pokémon!"

"But before we send you all out on new missions, we'd like to formally introduce the Guild's newest Exploration Team."

Dawn suddenly brightened up. "Maybe we're starting to get some respect in here after all!"

Dawn stepped forward to receive some recognition...

"Step out of the way, poser!" exclaimed Skuntank, pushing Dawn aside.

May grabbed Dawn, keeping her from falling on her butt, as they witnessed the rude Skuntank take his spot next to Wallace.

"Introducing... Team Skull!" Wallace said.

Skuntank smiled as his two teammates appeared beside him... Jessie the Zubat and Conway the Koffing!

"Yo, yo, yo!" Jessie cheered. "Team Skunk-Up-in-Here is back in the hizz-house!"

"Now with a more friendly Guild name and attitude!" added Conway.

"I am the leader of Team Skull!" Skuntank introduced himself. "But you may refer to me as the one, the only... Harley!"

May shuddered at the utterance of his name. "H-H-H-H-Harley?"

"I'm back, baby! You know you love me! And there's no getting rid of me this time! You're not the lead! You're the sidekick!"

"I knew signing that contract was a death wish!"

"Now that we've introduced Team Cliffhanger's rivals," Wallace stated, "everyone is to wait in their room until we've given them their day's assignments! Remember... how you do today will determine if you get picked to go on tomorrow's huge expedition! How you do... today! It's very important that I express we only care about what you do... today!"

* * *

As Dawn and May walked back to their room...

"I guess today's a perfect day to go shopping," suggested Dawn.

"Did you hear what Master Wallace said?" reminded May. "He said that what we do today will... wait, where are we going to go shopping?"

"At the market!"

"When did we introduce the market?"

Before Dawn could give an answer, they passed by the open entrance to the pantry. They stopped when they saw Team Skull inside, eating all the food.

"There will certainly be no repercussions from us gobbling down an entire month's food supply in five minutes," Harley said out loud.

"It's da twerpettes!" realized Jessie.

"There's only one thing we can do," Conway said with a glint in his eye.

"Cheese it!" the trio said simultaneously, disappearing from the kitchen in a snap.

Dawn and May nearly did a double-take, not believing what they had just seen.

"Was that a preview of a significant plot point?" asked May.

"You're just full of questions today, aren't you?" retorted Dawn.

"Mission assignment time, girls!" Drew flew in.

Drew handed the girls their assignment for the day.

"We want you to go to the Apple Woods to go pick up some Perfect Apples from the Perfect Apple Trees. Because Wallace loves Perfect Apples, and that's the only place in the entire world where Perfect Apples can get picked at the exact ripeness that he likes."

"This sounds like a mission to get Perfect Apples!" reiterated Dawn.

"Complete this easily ridiculous mission, and Master Wallace will invite you on tomorrow's huge expedition for sure!"

"This'll be the easiest mission completed by a rescue team in a Mystery Dungeon parody ever!" Dawn happily assumed.

* * *

DEEP APPLE WOODS

"Wait... how did this happen?"

Dawn and May were on their hands and knees deep in the Apple Woods, gasping heavily for breath as Team Skull...

"Team Skunk-Up-in-Here out here, fool!" Jessie yelled at the narrator.

Fine... gasping heavily for breath as Team Skunk-Up-in-Here stood before our heroines, each member carrying a sack full of Perfect Apples and the Perfect Apple tree behind them having been plucked clean.

"You'll never get to go on that huge expedition now!" laughed Harley.

"But just to make sure..." Conway smirked, getting an idea.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Fine... you two can fill them hos with yous seed. Just... as long as I don't have to watch."

"Just look away," Harley told her. "This will only take a few seconds..."

"I'm pumped and ready," grinned Conway.

Harley and Conway advanced on a weakened Dawn and May...

"We really should invest in protection..." the two girls cried out.

* * *

Bruised, battered, demoralized, and forcibly fed two male Pokémon's seeds in a hurry, the clock was approaching midnight as Dawn and May finally emerged from the Apple Woods.

"I thought I was going to die," wept May, traumatized by the whole experience.

"Ugh... who knew you could buy seeds in bulk?" groaned Dawn, holding up a BJ's Warehouse receipt for '2 pallets of 24 Stun Seeds' with the price whited out. "And to think my mom was thinking of getting a membership there! That's not happening, for sure!"

"Well, Dawn... at least things can't get any worse..."

* * *

"They deserve a penalty game after failing such an easy mission!"

The girls were helpless as Drew implored Wallace to throw the book at them for failing their mission.

"I recommend expulsion!"

Dawn gasped. "But what about finding out why I'm a Pokémon..."

"Isn't that a little harsh?" wondered May.

"I must concur with the Torchic," Wallace agreed. "They're just rookies, and their failure isn't detrimental to our survival..."

"We're out of Perfect Apples," Drew interjected.

"**EXPULSION? THIS BLASPHEMY CALLS FOR ON-THE-SPOT EXECUTION!**"

"Allow us to assist you with that, my liege..."

Everyone turned to the chamber entrance, where Team Skunk-Up-in-Here stood.

"It's Team Skull in here, dawg!" Jessie threateningly shook a fist at the narrator. "We won't warn ya again, you foo'!"

Sigh... where Team Skull stood. Jessie and Conway stood there as Harley jumped up in the air, over Dawn and May, and landed right in front of Wallace. Harley then proceeded to present Wallace with a gift... a Perfect Apple!

"A Perfect Apple!" Wallace rejoiced. "Now my rage is completely gone!"

"You don't have to soil your paws with eliminating these nobodies," said Harley. "Let me and my associates take care of..."

Wallace downed the Perfect Apple in one gulp, then cut off Harley mid-sentence.

"That won't be necessary. Your act of compassion for these girls has compelled me to spare their lives and not kick them out after all."

"That's not according to plan! What the..."

"We get to stay alive!" Dawn cheered happily.

"Who cares? We get to stay in the Guild!" May said with a smile.

"And they get to go on the huge expedition tomorrow as well," added Wallace.

"But that's so unfair!" Harley and Conway shouted in unison. "In fact, we're so upset by us screwing up Dawn and May's deaths that we're going to walk out of this room and sulk the rest of the night!"

With that, Harley, Conway, and Jessie left.

"Thank you so much!" Dawn breathed a sigh of relief.

"But, sir!" Drew pleaded. "They deserve some sort of punishment!"

"If not for the fact that you winked flirtatiously at me last chapter," May shook her clenched wing at Drew, "I'd punch you!"

"Well, Guild rules do state those who fail missions are subject to punishment according to the whim of the Guild leader. So... uh... no dinner for you!"

Drew and May were a little confused at the decision, but they seemed to accept it as they exited, heading back to their room.

"You do realize it's two thirty in the morning," Drew pointed out the clock to Wallace.

"I have decided, and the defendants have left the room!"

"But, sir..."

"**IHAVEDECIDED!**"

"Awwwww..."

* * *

After surprisingly not being woken up early in the morning by the familiar screeching of Grace over the PA system, Dawn and May walked into the main hall, where the entire guild waited in anticipation for the expedition to begin.

Upon seeing Dawn and May's arrival, Wallace motioned for Drew to begin speaking.

"Today, the goal is to get to Fogbound Lake," he informed them. "There have been complaints that the area has become too foggy. Like San Francisco foggy. That's really bad, if you didn't know."

"Focus!" coughed Wallace.

"Right," Drew got back on track. "Before we head out, we're going to split the Guild up in such a way that we have five equal squads."

[Group A: Guild Leader Wigglytuff and Second-in-Command Chatot]

While Drew was happy about the assignment, Wallace was visibly upset.

"How can it be equal if the two strongest Pokémon **ARE ON THE SAME BLASTED SQUAD?**"

[Group B: Diglett, Loudred, Sunflora, and Croagunk]

"Man, I wanted to be with Drew!" whined Sunflora, voiced by Brianna. "I so wanted to move out of idol worship and into upfront stalking!"

"You should definitely stalk," Kelly the Diglett told her. "It works well for me and my obsessions with May and Dawn!"

"**I COULD BE A STALKER TOO IF I DIDN'T ALWAYS TALK LIKE THIS!**" yelled Grace the Loudred.

"I'm on the worst team ever, and to make matters worse, this is my only line in the entire fic!" sighed a bored James, a Croagunk.

[Group C: Dugtrio, Corphish, and Chimecho]

"Great!" Zoey the Dugtrio said sarcastically. "I'm stuck with the half-trainer, half-coordinator."

"The key to life is being well-rounded," Nando the Corphish said back. "You can be prepared for anything if you're good at several things instead of great at just one."

"I beg to differ! Being good at several things means you can't commit the time to being a champion in one thing!"

"Trophies don't mean anything if you're working and not having fun!"

As Zoey and Nando argued over principles, Kenny the Chimecho shook his head in disbelief.

"For once, I wish those two could work together without arguing."

[Group D: Skuntank, Zubat, and Koffing]

Harley, Jessie, and Conway high-fived each other.

"This will be like taking candy from a baby!" Harley smirked.

[Group E: Piplup, Torchic, and Bidoof]

"All things considered," Dawn said to May, "we lucked out drawing Barry."

May nodded in agreement as she watched Barry the Bidoof stretch in preparation for the long journey.

"Now it's time to hand out maps!" Drew announced.

"The first team to get to Fogbound Lake will receive an automatic promotion to the next level!" Wallace told them. "Any team that arrives there after five p.m. tomorrow... gets the death penalty! And I mean it this time... you won't like this one, I promise you that!"

After they had been passed out, Dawn noticed a problem with hers...

"Uh... it's blank!"

"You did the worst on yesterday's missions, so you get the worst map!" Wallace explained.

"**WHAT MAP? THERE'S NOTHING ON IT!**"

"Uh... yeah... well... everyone, go!"

In a snap, everyone left the room except for Dawn's group, heading off to Fogbound Lake.

"At least Barry's still..."

"Barry's gone, May."

"**GODDAMN IT!**"

"Well, at least with everyone gone we can walk out of here under our own power."

* * *

Moments later...

"This is starting to get predictable!" Dawn yelled as she and May were fired from the cannon.

As they blasted off in the direction of Fogbound Lake, a few small objects could be seen falling off of the two girls.

* * *

[Scene missing]  
Uh... we must apologize. During the blast-off, the recorder that was keeping track of Dawn's travels was knocked off. As a result, we have no information regarding the girls' trek along CRAGGY COAST, the first leg of the trip to Fogbound Lake.

A replacement recorder was given to Dawn upon their exit. We now rejoin her journey, already in progress.

* * *

Night had already fallen by the time the girls had arrived at a base camp set up at the foot of Mount Horn. They saw Barry standing next to a Kangaskhan statue on one side of the camp, while the Guild members of Groups B and C were sleeping in a large tent on the other side.

"About time you got here!" Barry exclaimed, tapping his foot impatiently. "Did you two turn into Slowpoke or somethin'?"

"Thanks for the help!" answered May sarcastically. "We're supposed to be working as a team!"

"At least we're at base camp," Dawn said with relief. "We'll rest up and then pick things up in the morning."

"I'd use this Kangaskhan statue to save your progress first," Barry suggested. "You never know what could happen tomorrow!"

Dawn put her left wing on the statue's stomach.

"So how does this..."

"Congratulations!" Barry speedily announced. "Your progress has been saved!"

Dawn jumped back in fright at Barry's booming voice.

"Okay, I'm going to sleep, night!"

In an instant, Barry moved from the statue to the tent and was quickly snoring away.

"I guess this is a good a place as ever to end the chapter!" Dawn exclaimed.

"And to think, we're ending without a cliffhanger for once!" May noted aloud.

* * *

Meanwhile, in some landfill just outside of Treasure Town, a copy of 'Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness' unofficial official strategy guide by Brady Games stood out amongst the garbage.

Enough for a certain Grovyle passing by at that exact moment to notice, as he walked over, picked it up, and started leafing through it.

"Heh heh heh heh..." he snickered. "This just got easier!"

***** To be continued... *****


	5. Chapter Four

MOUNT HORN 7F

After a peaceful night's rest, Dawn, May, and Barry began traveling together through Mount Horn on their way to Fogbound Lake as part of an expedition commissioned by their Guild. At this particular moment, the trio were in the midst of battling an Ariados guarding the stairs leading up to the next floor.

But Dawn had other things on her mind besides battling...

"I just read the reviews on the website," Dawn said aloud. "And a lot of people are complaining about our parody!"

May jumped at the Ariados and attempted to use Peck, but the enemy Pokémon dodged it.

"In what ways?" she asked.

"There are two big complaints. The first one is that people are complaining that we're not utilizing enough Internet memes."

Ariados used Poison Sting on Barry, but he used Defense Curl in response to limit the damage.

"Do people think I have the time to do research?" Barry said after coming out of the curl. "I have no time for that!"

"I guess it would help if they just came to us," commented May.

On cue, a Mudkip entered the room and was about to open its mouth...

And Dawn and May promptly super-kicked it out of the game.

"No, we're **NOT** doing **THAT** one!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Have you **HEARD** the sickening origin story behind it?" May queried with a shudder.

"I thought I made it clear I have no time for research!" repeated Barry.

Realizing it was her turn to attack, Dawn used Pound on Ariados! The Pokémon surrendered immediately.

"I hate to admit defeat, but you three have bested me," the Ariados said. "Because of that, I want to join your team."

Dawn smiled. "Well, Team Cliffhanger is always on the lookout for new recruits! Welcome aboard, Ariados!"

"Thank you! Here's my card!"

Ariados flung a business card at Dawn, who caught it with ease. May looked over Dawn's left shoulder as she read it aloud.

"Ariados. Played by the Iron-Masked Marauder, the villain from the fourth Pokémon movie, 'Celebi: The Voice of the Forest.'"

"A villain? Dawn, I don't think we can trust him!"

"No need to worry, May! He has to follow by our rules if he wants to be on our rescue team!"

"These are the heroines of this story, huh?" Marauder thought to himself. "I can use them to get to their Guild Master, and when I defeat him, I'll become Master! Then I'll turn this Guild evil! This world will never know what hit them!"

Marauder then turned his attention towards the stairs, and flashed a wicked smile. While that was happening, Barry became distraught as Dawn and May sat down on the dungeon floor for a snack break.

"Hey! If you girls expect to get to Fogbound Lake by five o'clock, you can't be stopping every ten minutes to stuff your faces!"

"We need to think about whether letting the Iron-Masked Marauder be part of our rescue team is a good decision," May retorted before taking a bite out of an Apple.

"Besides," Dawn added, "we still have to figure out how to solve our lack of Internet memes..."

"OK chums, let's do this!" the Marauder exclaimed before bolting for the steps. "**IRRRRRON MAAAAAAAAAAAASKED MARAUUUUUUUDER!**"

The Marauder ran up the stairs, leaving a stunned Dawn, May, and Barry to wonder what just happened.

"Did... did he just continue on without us?" May tried to confirm.

"Alright," Barry snapped his fingers. "Now that's a teammate more my speed! Wait up!"

Barry headed for the stairs. The girls rolled their eyes, then got up and followed, leaving their unfinished snack behind.

"He just joined the team and we're already going to have to save him," growled Dawn.

* * *

MOUNT HORN 8F

**MONSTER HOUSE!**

Dawn and May arrived onto the 8th floor to find the Iron-Masked Marauder speechless as he was attacked by four Venomoth. Barry tried to get over to him to help, but he was surrounded by four Beautifly.

The girls sprang into action to save their comrades, but their own rescue attempts were derailed when a pair of Pineco blocked their path.

The Marauder fainted seconds later, having not even thinking about recovering after the previous battle. Barry managed to take out three of the four Beautifly before he too was defeated.

The four Venomoth and the lone remaining Beautifly approached May, who was preoccupied with a Pineco. Seeing her fate before her, she quickly pulled an Escape Rope out of the burlap sack, and tossed it Dawn's way.

"It's too late for me!" May shouted as the Pokémon swarmed over her. "Save yourself!"

As May's hit points were quickly depleted, Dawn hastily read the tag detailing how to use the rope. But as she started to read, out of nowhere, an Aerodactyl appeared, blocking the stairs back down. Dawn was really nervous, but the instructions seemed so foolproof. She was as good as safe...

Piplup used the Escape Rope!  
Aerodactyl used Bite!  
Bite rips Escape Rope in half... escape fail!

Dawn groaned. "I'm really starting to hate Internet memes."

Aerodactyl used Thunder Fang!  
Super effective attack is super effective!  
OMGWTFBBQ! Piplup fainted!  
Team Cliffhanger loses money and items in hand... except Relic Fragment

To restart from the last save point, click 'Yes' to start the theme song

* * *

_[Theme song plays, to the tune of the Season 11 U.S. opening]_  
_On a world, far from home  
Dawn has become a Pokémon  
May is back, will she get her revenge?_  
_Read on to find out!_

_[Interrupt'd]_  
_Never gonna give you up  
Never gonna let you down  
Never gonna say I herd u like mudkips!_

_[Back to normal...]_  
_This is a sequel!_  
_Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon!_

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Time for a little fun as the girls try to make the story more attractive to today's reader... and move along the game timeline in the process.

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

**-**  
**Chapter Four (07.12.10)**  
**-**

MOUNT HORN 8F

Two days later, Dawn, May, and Barry had managed to make it back to the eighth floor of Mount Horn. And they weren't happy.

"I hope you're **ALL** happy!" Dawn yelled at you. "Because we're not doing that again! **EVER!**"

"Wait..." May cut in. "Something else is wrong. Getting kicked off the mountain cost us one day. How did we lose two?"

Barry rubbed the back of his Bidoof head sheepishly. "Uh..."

* * *

_Flashback to yesterday..._

_"I know which way to go!" Barry shouted excitedly. "Follow me, follow me!"_

_Dawn hopped along after Barry, while May looked at a signpost that was strangely foreign to her._

_"Was this here yesterday?" May asked out loud._

_"Hurry up!" replied Barry. "We're supposed to be in a rush... for... something..."_

_May shrugged her shoulders as she ran after her expedition team. The signpost stated that they were heading in the direction of Rock Path. To get into Mount Horn, they were supposed to be going the opposite direction._

* * *

Back to present...

"To be fair, yesterday was kinda fun," admitted Dawn. "We met that Natu who said he could see into our future!"

"Until I realized he was spoiling us on the anime!" exclaimed May. "I wanted it to be a surprise that **[SPOILER!]** meets **[SPOILER!]** in the **[SPOILER!] [SPOILER!]** finals!"

Dawn sighed. "I remember the **[SPOILER!]** of that. It was the best **[SPOILER!]** of **[SPOILER!] [SPOILER!]**."

Barry redirected the conversation. "Who cares about **[SPOILER!]**? What about the **[SPOILER!] [SPOILER!] [SPOILER!]**? I wanted to know who wins the **[SPOILER!] [SPOILER!] [SPOILER!]** already!"

"**[SPOILER!]** doesn't even have his **[SPOILER!] [SPOILER!]** yet," Dawn berated him, "so stop trying to **[SPOILER!]** the **[SPOILER!]** for **[SPOILER!]**"

May shook her head. "**[SPOILER!] [SPOILER!] [SPOILER!] [SPOILER!]?**"

"Yes. Yes, we are."

"Good. Because in the next scene, we have to face the music."

"Whatever do you mean by that?"

* * *

MOUNT HORN PEAK

"Oh..." Dawn finally realized. "Now I get it."

The team had arrived at the peak, where the rest of the angry Guild had been waiting two days for their arrival.

"Late!" shouted a steamed Wallace. "Penalty!"

* * *

Wallace penalized the trio by having them polish all of the Guild's Explorer Badges, take inventory of everyone's items, and counting all the coins that the guild members had collected since leaving home.

"This is the worst!" remarked Dawn as she held up a perfectly polished silver-level Explorer Badge. "Talk about a fate worse than execution!"

"Execution sounds better than this," growled Barry as he struggled to shine up a gold-level Explorer Badge. "It's much quicker!"

May spotted Zoey heading towards them, dragging a Treasure Bag behind her.

"That better not be more coins!" scolded May as she pointed out the money already scattered around her. "No Pokémon are able to count over 493 yet!"

"Relax... I come in peace, and bearing gifts!"

Zoey smiled as she emptied the Treasure Bag... it had three Perfect Apples in it. Barry and the girls each took one and start chomping down.

"You're gonna need your strength... the next part of the expedition will be the hardest one of them all!"

"Thanks!" Dawn said happily between bites.

Zoey took a place to Dawn's right, and calmly motioned for Dawn to hand her the silver Explorer Badge in her wing.

"A beauty, isn't she?" Zoey asked.

Dawn nodded in reply.

"It'll be hard saying goodbye to it, though... me and my partner are very close to getting promoted to gold-level Explorers."

"Must've taken a whole lot of hard work."

"You'll get the hang of it," Zoey reassured her. "I can see it in your eyes! You're gonna be a great Explorer!"

Zoey then started to head back to the others, leaving Dawn to contemplate that thought.

"But... I don't want to be a great Explorer," she thought to herself. "I just wanna be human again, and go home..."

* * *

The next day, after a couple of hours of traveling, the members of the Wigglytuff Guild found themselves at the entrance to the Foggy Forest. Located somewhere inside was the Guild's final destination: Fogbound Lake. Both were named because of the dense fog that was present in the area.

"I heard a rumor about this place," Kenny spoke up suddenly. "An urban legend exists that one of the members of the Legendary Trio lives somewhere in this forest!"

Murmurs erupted amongst the other Guild members, as they wondered which one Kenny was talking about.

"This is unconfirmed," continued Kenny, "but I believe this is the home... of Uxie!"

More murmuring over the prospect of possibly lying eyes on Uxie.

"So the trio refers to the Lake Guardians?" Dawn thought out loud.

"What are the Lake Guardians?" an uninformed May asked.

"Well..."

"No time to explain!" Barry interrupted. "Everyone else already took off into the forest!"

Barry ran off, not wanting to wait for the girls.

"I guess this explanation's gonna have to be done on the road."

The girls nodded, then headed into the forest. But, then, out of the corner of her eye, Dawn noticed a shiny red orb on the ground. She stopped to pick it up.

"I know I'm not the greedy type," Dawn admitted truthfully, "but I'm sure I can trade this off for shopping money when we get back home!"

Dawn placed the orb in her burlap sack. She then ran off.

* * *

FOGGY FOREST 2F

"That reminds me," May said to Dawn, "didn't you mention early that the readers had two complaints about this fanfic?"

"Now that you mention it..." Dawn recalled, "the second complaint was that we weren't dedicating enough time to the dungeon crawling!"

"Dungeon crawling?"

"Yeah! The act of actually having to fight our way through the dungeons, just like in the game we're parodying!"

On cue, a Skiploom and a Zigzagoon appeared to block the girls' path.

"Let's not take any chances!" Dawn said as she pulled out a batch of Gravelerock.

"Preemptive strike!" May yelled, as she grabbed a few and started tossing.

The two girls alternated tossing, and they managed to knock out their two opponents before they could get close enough to attack.

"Hey, that was pretty easy!"

"I'll say, May! Let's step this up with a dungeon crawling montage!"

* * *

FOGGY FOREST 4F

Piplup used Pound on a lowly Dunsparce, knocking it out in one turn.

* * *

FOGGY FOREST 6F

Piplup used Bubble on one Zigzagoon, while Torchic used Scratch to take care of a second.

* * *

FOGGY FOREST 8F

Dawn rushed to May's aid as a wild Noctowl used Hypnosis to put her to sleep.

* * *

FOGGY FOREST 9F

May moved to return the favor when a Stantler used Sand Attack to try and blind Dawn's Gravelerock throwing accuracy.

* * *

FOGGY FOREST 11F

The girls encounter a cute Pachirisu who used Charm to coax them into not attacking...

And then it went for the kill shot with Spark!

* * *

FOGGY FOREST POND

Dawn and May emerged from the forest and into a clearing with a pond in the center. Their feathers were ruffled, singed, and standing up awkwardly in places. Essentially, for girls, they looked like a complete wreck.

But the good news was... they had gotten through without dying.

"Me and my big mouth," May said with a sigh.

"Are you girls alright?" Nando asked, running in on his crab-like legs from nearby.

"**DON'T LOOK AT US!**" Dawn yelled. "**WE'RE UNATTRACTIVE!**"

Nando stopped in his tracks, then quickly turned around so as not to look at them.

"You know, doing a montage doesn't settle the complaint about lack of time shown dungeon crawling!"

"We'll worry about it when we care!" a calmer, yet still somewhat freaked out Dawn exclaimed. "Can we just get a scene wipe so we can get presentable?"

* * *

"That's better!"

Dawn and May now looked like their normal... Piplup and Torchic selves, and Nando was now next to them, as the three stood in front of a Groudon statue.

"How are we managing to see this in all this fog?" May asked out loud.

"I don't know," Nando replied. "We should do something about that."

"Wait a minute!" Dawn said as she squinted her eyes. "There's an inscription here!"

May and Nando looked closer, and indeed there was. Dawn read it aloud.

"Igniting life to the statue will show the path to the treasure."

The trio scratched their heads in confusion. They began to think. Dawn then placed one wing on the statue, and...

"Hey! I can help you with this one!"

Hearing the female voice, Dawn immediately glanced at May. But she was so deep in thought, there was no way it could be her talking.

"Place the Drought Stone in Groudon's heart!"

"The... Drought Stone?"

Dawn had no idea what the Drought Stone was...

"Unless..."

Dawn reached into the burlap sack and pulled out the shiny red orb she had found earlier. Its brightness grabbed May and Nando's attention.

"Where did you get that?" asked May, using one wing to shield her eyes.

"Apparently... this is the key."

Dawn looked for where the heart would be on the Groudon statue. At that spot, there was a spherical-shaped hole - one the exact size of the orb in her wings. Putting two and two together, Dawn pushed it into place.

Instantly, the fog began to clear out. Thirty seconds later, all the fog had completely vanished.

"You did it, Dawn!" May exclaimed, running over and hugging Dawn.

"Impressive!" Nando applauded. "But how did you know?"

"A little spiritual guidance, I guess..." replied Dawn.

"I'm going to find Wallace and tell him about this! He's gonna be thrilled!"

Nando left the pond. As he did, the girls noticed an entrance to a cave that they couldn't see before.

"The inscription said 'Igniting life to the statue will show the path to the treasure!'" May reminded Dawn.

"But what treasure?"

"You'll never find out, ha ha ha!" laughed Harley. "Because we're gonna take it for ourselves!"

The girls turned around and were shocked to find Team Skull...

"That's it, diggity dawg!" exclaimed an enraged Jessie. "Let's kick the narrator's ass!"

Wait, I meant Team Skunk-up-in-Here...

"Too late, sucka!"

**BOOM! POW! KICK! SQUEEZE! CHOKE! WORD 2 UR MOTHA! SLAM! BOP BOP BOPPITY BOP! CENSORED! PIGS ON MY KNEES, PIGS ON MY KNEES!** **BITE! SECOND-HAND SMOKE INHALATION! SKUNK GAS OF DOOM! PASS OUT!**

"Only the last line of that had anything to do with Pokémon attacks," Dawn noted.

"That takes care of that poser," Harley stated, dusting his paws off.

"I always knew smoking kills," noted Conway. "I just didn't think mine would kill someone else first!"

"Now what about these crackas?" Jessie pointed at the girls. "And none of that 'fill dem wit seed' crap!"

"We couldn't if we wanted to anyway," Harley admitted. "After we used them in a negative light, BJ's revoked my membership!"

"Let's just kill them like we did that narrator!" smirked Conway. "And then... we'll admire our work up close and personal."

"Wait... what?" Dawn asked.

"Especially... you," Conway said, having gotten behind her.

"Torchic Peck Attack!" May stated matter-of-factly, knocking Conway into the pond water.

"Help!" he shouted. "In this body, I can't... cough... swim! And the toxic waste from body is... cough... polluting... hard to..."

"We're running over to help!" Harley shouted. "Suddenly, having to say everything we're doing instead of letting the narrator say what we're doing is starting to be a drag."

"Extend your tail, Harley!" ordered Conway. "Jessie can then wrap one wing around it and use the other for me to grab a hold on."

"How's you gonna do dat, dawg?" asked Jessie, now in position.

"Bite!" chomped Conway.

"If you leave a mark, I'll let you drown in your own filth!" screamed Jessie, her anger forcing her out-of-character.

"I now use all my strength to fling you two to dry land!" said Harley.

"Oof!" exclaimed Conway. "It's implied that we are safe, having landed on our posteriors."

"Team Skunk-Up-in-Here isn't going to take this crap lying down!" yelled Jessie. "Let's put dem gals six feet under!"

"Wait... they're gone!" Harley yelled, noting the girls being no longer present.

"Somebody stop that Perfect Apple!" Wallace shouted as he ran in. "I need that to live for another three lines!"

"Apple stopped!" Harley announced, stopping the apple from skipping into the pond.

"Thanks, Team Skull!"

"He called us by the wrong name!" Conway gasped. "We must eliminate him! Start by advancing on him!"

"Why are you doing this?" Wallace asked. "Do I look like a member of Team Cliffhanger to you?"

* * *

STEAM CAVE 1F

"Achoo!" Dawn and May both sneezed.

"Someone must be talking about us," commented Dawn. "That's the only reason why someone would sneeze."

"Well... at least we got away from Harley and his cronies."

"I wonder what this treasure is that awaits us."

"Maybe we'll get to meet the legendary Uxie?"

"That sounds a good a guess as any..."

* * *

? ? ? ?

"The statue puzzle was just a warm-up," Uxie thought to herself, as she envisioned Dawn and May entering the Steam Cave. "The real test happens if they manage to reach me. Isn't that right?"

"**GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!**" roared Groudon behind her.

* * *

MOUNT HORN 14F

"That ought to take care of you," Grovyle exclaimed, as he put his foot down on top of a defeated Aerodactyl. "And according to my senses, I'm getting very close to it... heh heh heh..."

***** To be continued... *****


	6. Chapter Five

STEAM CAVE 7F

We rejoin our heroines, Dawn and May, as they continue to make their way through the Steam Cave.

"I'm glad we found a new narrator to replace the poor guy that met his demise last chapter," Dawn said aloud.

"Yeah!" exclaimed May. "It's so hard to have to describe everything we're doing."

"I really hope those three pay for what they did..."

* * *

FOGGY FOREST POND

Drew and the other members of the Guild rushed to the pond, but they breathed a sigh of relief when they found Wallace unharmed.

"Sir, you're alright!"

"Of course I am, Drew! Why wouldn't I be?"

Kenny pointed out to the others that Harley, Jessie, and Conway had all been knocked out and stacked in a messy pile.

"What happened to them?"

Wallace smiled at them as he held up a Perfect Apple core.

"Nobody better a lay a finger... on my Perfect Apple!"

"No offense," Brianna interjected, "but isn't that so 1990?"

"Eat my shorts!"

"Master Wallace," Zoey cut in, changing the subject, "where's Dawn?"

"They went in there, I think."

Wallace pointed towards the entrance to the Steam Cave.

* * *

STEAM CAVE 8F

"Dawn... we have a problem?"

"What is it?"

"Remember the start of the last episode?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "I didn't... until now; thanks for bringing back bad memories!"

May twiddled her feathers. "Well, because of it, we screwed up our only copy of the theme song."

"What? How did we..."

"We accidentally taped over the original."

"Couldn't we just pull it from the flashback I created it in?"

"Does it look like we can travel in time? Yet?"

Dawn groaned in disbelief. She then produced a guitar out of nowhere and started to tune it.

"Let's just make this quick. After all, this is the week that we find out Grovyle, who I shouldn't even be talking about because no one has run into him yet, is voiced by..."

* * *

_[Theme song plays, to the tune of the Season 12 U.S. opening]_  
_Somewhere I sing a song  
As a Pokémon, it's wrong!_  
_In this body, a human girl  
From a different game, called Diamond and Pearl!_

_Piplup! (Piplup!)_  
_She's voiced by Dawn!_  
_Torchic! (Torchic!)_  
_Reprised by May!_  
_Grovyle! (Grovyle!)_  
_He's [spoil spoiler]!_

_And if we find we can count to three  
We know home is where we will be  
Now let's start our grand quest  
Mystery Dungeon! Pokémon!_

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Who is Grovyle? It's big reveal time as the adventure continues...

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

**-**  
**Chapter Five (07.19.10)**  
**-**

_HILL OF THE ANCIENTS - Some unknown amount of time in the past_

_May and Bulbasaur arrived at the Hill of the Ancients. Xatu was overlooking a cliff, staring straight at the setting sun._

_"So... you've arrived..."_

* * *

UPPER STEAM CAVE 1F - Present time

"Hello!" Dawn shouted, snapping her feathers in May's face to get her attention. "I thought I was the only who was supposed to have visions in this story!"

May shook her head and snapped herself back to reality. Just in time, too, as two Granbull were charging towards them.

"What were you dreaming about, anyway?"

"I'm not sure... maybe I have to figure it out, just like you!"

Dawn then used Bubble and May used Ember, which knocked out the two Granbull.

"Well, figure it out later! We have a dungeon to get through, and a Lake Guardian and treasure to find!"

* * *

UPPER STEAM CAVE PEAK

"That was easier than I thought," remarked May.

"Yeah," added Dawn. "It looks like things are finally starting to go our way..."

As the two girls stepped into the chamber, they were greeted with a loud roar... from Groudon.

"**GROOOOOOOOOOAR!**"

"I love being wrong," Dawn said sarcastically.

"It's a fire-type!" May exclaimed.

May grabbed Dawn by the wing and pushed her towards Groudon.

"Water-types are strong against fire-types! You take this one!"

Dawn quickly turned the tables, getting behind May and pushing her towards Groudon.

"But you're a fire-type! You should be able to bond with another fire-type!"

"That would work, except for one thing... Groudon's a ground-type!"

"**GROOOOOOOOOOAR!**" Groudon roared again, silencing Dawn and May.

With death staring them in the face, the girls made the stupid decision to fight to their last breath.

"Ember!" May yelled.

"Bubble!" Dawn shouted.

The two attacks flew right through Groudon and to a bunch of rocks behind him, all of which exploded into the pieces upon being hit.

"Ember!"

"Bubble!"

"**GROOOOOOOOOOAR!**"

Dawn and May continued to launch attacks, all with the same result. Groudon stood there and observed, doing nothing other than roaring at the girls.

"All of our attacks go right through him!" Dawn finally figured out.

"Any idea why Groudon hasn't tried to fight back?" May asked out loud.

"No... and I don't know how much Bubble I have left in me!"

Having not attacked for a good 15 seconds, the dust was clearing behind Groudon... and a lime green curtain had appeared. The girls could see the silhouette of a Pokémon standing on the other side.

"Where did that curtain come from?" questioned May.

An unfamiliar female voice answered May's question.

"It came from the Land of 'Shut the Hell Up!'"

['Shut the hell up!' Counter: 3]

"I didn't ask to be the one who asks all the questions in this story," grumbled May.

"Wait a minute..." Dawn realized, "since when can Groudon talk English?"

"Huh?" Groudon responded, "uh, I mean... **ROAR!**"

"That... sounded unconvincing..."

"**PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT 'MON BEHIND THE CURTAIN!**"

Dawn and May looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, then walked over to the curtain, grabbed it with their mouths, and ripped it down. Once the curtain had fallen, they saw a stunned Uxie standing there, next to a video projector and a voice amplifier.

"Darn that 'Oz' movie," Uxie cursed under her breath.

"It's one of the Lake Guardians!" exclaimed May. "I know this because if this were a video, there would be a small, invisible box stating so right above your head!"

Uxie sighed. "Yes, I am one of the three Lake Guardians. My name is Uxie, but my closest friends call me..."

"Angie!" Dawn shouted. "From the Summer Academy!"

Angie frowned after having her introduction cut short by Dawn.

"You could've let me finish."

"Oops! Sorry, Angie!"

Angie sighed. "Well... I might as well show you what you came here for."

"Oh, right! The treasure!"

Angie turned around and started to head towards a bright light shining at the back of the cave, of which Dawn and May had only just noticed as they followed her...

* * *

FOGBOUND LAKE

The three girls emerged from the cave and were welcomed by the sight of a beautiful lake, albeit one partially covered with fog. Angie led them to the edge of the water, then motioned for them to stop.

"Wait here."

Dawn and May nodded, then stood by as Angie flew to the center of the lake. Once there, she closed her eyes and started to concentrate. As her body began to become enveloped in a yellow light, a matching colored circle appeared on the water's surface just underneath her. Seconds later, a yellow sphere emerged from the lake, and Angie broke her trance to reach down and pull it out. As soon as she did, the yellow glow around her body and on the water's surface instantly faded.

Angie flew back to the shore, holding the yellow sphere in her paws. Once she was back over land, Angie released her grip on the sphere, letting it fall a couple feet to the ground. Dawn and May walked up to the sphere, and as they did, the yellow sphere disappeared, leaving behind a black gear.

"No offense," Dawn scratched her head, "but that doesn't look all that valuable."

"It's actually very priceless," Angie explained. "For you see, this is a Time Gear!"

"A Time Gear?" May looked perplexed. "What's that?"

"Time Gears are responsible for making sure time flows freely in the world. They are an essential part of life. Without them, life all around us would cease to exist because time must pass in order for life to continue on."

"Wow..." Dawn gasped. "Can that be true?"

"It is true."

The girls looked up and saw the entire Wigglytuff Guild, minus the members of Team Skull, standing there.

"You must be Wallace," Angie deduced.

"Correct. Wallace, the master of the Wigglytuff Guild. And I'm here to tell you the reason for our Grand Expedition."

Wallace looked at Dawn and May as he continued to talk.

"You see, we've been getting reports of Time Gears being stolen across the world. No one knows who exactly is responsible, but as he continues to pilfer more Time Gears, the balance of space and time becomes more and more unstable."

"I see," Angie nodded. "So you've come to warn me?"

"Exactly. The three most powerful Time Gears are in the possession of the three Lake Guardians. If he's 'gotta catch 'em all,' he'll eventually find your way to you and your associates."

"What would happen if this guy were to get one of the Guardians' Time Gears?" asked Dawn.

"Displacing one of those Time Gears from their resting place would probably be enough to start causing rifts in time to occur. Pokémon and other life forms could find themselves frozen in time indefinitely!"

"Just by getting one? And if he gets all three..."

"It will be the end of the world!"

Angie turned towards her Time Gear and used her psychic powers to encase it in a yellow sphere. She then grabbed it and threw it as far as she could, towards the lake's center.

"It's imperative that this thief comes for the Time Gear," Wallace told Angie, "that you keep him from getting it, no matter what the cost!"

Angie smirked. "If this guy thinks he's gonna get past me, heh heh... well, he's sadly mistaken!"

"Very well... as for us, we must find the other two Lake Guardians and also warn them. Hopefully, we'll get to them before this evildoer does."

The members of the guild started to walk back towards Steam Cave, led by Wigglytuff. Dawn and May followed, leaving Angie behind to try and beef up security around her treasure.

* * *

The trek home for the entire Guild took several days, but apparently someone was willing to wait. For as the Guild's headquarters came into sight for its members, they saw somebody waiting at the gate. Wallace motioned for everyone to stop just before they walked into the Pok mon's visual range.

"Who's that?" Drew wondered out loud.

"It could just be someone who needs our help," suspected Zoey.

"He looks too shady for that," muttered Barry. "Let's fine him for trespassing!"

"What's up?" Dawn asked, looking at Wallace. "Do you know that Pokémon?"

"Never met him before," replied Wallace. "But he's very good at what he does... at least, from what I've heard."

Wallace turned to everyone to address them.

"Remember! What happened on our Grand Expedition stays between all of us! No one else can learn of it! The fate of the world depends on it!"

"Yes, Master Wallace, sir!" the other Guild members assured him.

Wallace then led the Guild over the hill, where the Pokémon that was at the front gate was now clearly identifiable.

It was a Dusknoir.

* * *

A few minutes later, Wallace was sitting in his throne in the main hall. A few feet away, in a chair facing him, sat Dusknoir. As they began their talk, they didn't notice the door open slightly, and two pairs of eyes peek through the crack.

"You're a wise and great explorer, who has a knack for solving mysteries," Wallace began. "So, what does someone of your talent need from the Wigglytuff Exploration Guild? Huh... Cyrus?"

Cyrus smiled at the saying of his name.

"My reputation really does precede me, doesn't it? I could go on and on about my accomplishments, but it looks like you've just returned from a long trip... so I'll get straight to the point."

"Please do."

Dusknoir produced a color-penciled drawing of Grovyle.

"Have you seen this Pokémon before?"

"I haven't. Are you looking for him?"

"Why, yes... yes I am! You see, this punk is a criminal from the future!"

Dawn and May gasped audibly from their hiding spot, loud enough for Wallace and Cyrus to look at the doorway to see if there was anyone there. The girls use their wings to clasp each other's mouths shut as they listened to see if anyone was going to walk to the door and discover them.

When they heard Cyrus start talking ago, the two girls let go and each breathed a sigh of relief. They then retook their positions by the door, peeking into the room once again.

"But now, this fugitive is committing a crime that affects not only my world in the future, but in the present day now!"

"Really? How so?"

"Grovyle is trying to steal all of the Time Gears!"

Wallace gasped.

"Yes. You see, his plan is to snatch all of the Time Gears, thus stopping time forever! Doing so will allow him to stop this story in its tracks, thus ensuring it never gets finished and thus never gets published! For you see, if that happens, then this story technically never existed... and he can claim that he is the show's one and only main character, and the spotlight belongs exclusively to him!"

"We can't allow that happen! Pokémon must appeal to both boys and girls equally, and that can't be done if there is no female lead to share the spotlight!"

Wallace and Cyrus continued to talk, but Dawn and May had decided they had heard enough. They walked away from the door, and headed back to their room.

"I can't believe he'd do something like this," May growled. "He's such a nice guy, too!"

"I should've listened to mother and taken up that offer to star in a shoujo series!" Dawn exclaimed.

"So, now what? Do we go after him?"

Dawn nodded. "We have no choice. We have to bring..."

Drew suddenly flew in, cutting off the end of Dawn's sentence.

"Just the two I was looking for! I have a new, urgent mission for you two!"

"But..." May groaned, "we just got back from the Grand Expedition!"

"There are rumors that a suspicious looking Pokémon has been wandering around the Northern Desert! It is rumored that somewhere near there resides the second of the Lake Guardians, Mesprit!"

"In a desert?" Dawn scratched her head. "I'm pretty sure you can't have a lake in a desert."

"Nevertheless, if Mesprit is somewhere out there, she must be warned! We can't allow the Time Gears to fall into the wrong hands!"

"So, where exactly is this Northern Desert?"

"No need to worry! I've already arranged for transportation."

* * *

Seconds later, Dawn and May were blasted out of the cannon, towards the Northern Desert.

"I can't believe he stole my catchphrase!" Dawn yelled as her voice trailed off the farther from the cannon she and May flew...

* * *

Upon arriving in the Northern Desert, Dawn and May began their search for a lake in the middle of a barren sunny wasteland. The locals were a mixed bag in terms of helping them. There was a Sandshrew who wanted to help, but he wasn't aware of a lake anywhere in the desert. Then there was a Trapinch with an affinity for rare birds... an affinity for dining on rare, uncooked birds, that is.

After hours of wandering, the girls were finally about to give up, just as they were passing by an area full of quicksand pools. Suddenly, Dawn got a strange sensation, and felt compelled to jump into one of the aforementioned pools. May attempted to use a rope to pull out, but the current was too strong. Too strong, in fact, that it also pulled May down as well.

* * *

Upon awakening, Dawn spotted a sign attached to the ceiling above her. It read 'Quicksand Cave 1F.' Dawn noticed May was lying face down on the ground to her left, and she went over to wake her up.

After having a bite to eat to replenish their strength and stave off hunger, the two girls proceeded to walk deeper into the dungeon. But it wasn't long before they were beginning to regret their decision. In this particular dungeon, they ran into Nincada, Skorupi, Mawile, and Tyranitar, just to name some of the nastier foes. But despite the strength of their opposition, Dawn and May managed to get through the dungeon without dying.

And they picked up a couple new friends along the way...

* * *

UNDERGROUND LAKE

Riding atop a pair of Hippopotas they had recruited in the Quicksand Cave, Dawn and May gasped in awe as they entered a cavern that had a majestic, beautiful lake in it. The water sparkled and it was cleaner than any body of water either of the girls had seen before.

"We actually found the lake!" Dawn shouted with glee.

"Should've known to look underground in a desert," May smiled, feeling a bit dumb for not thinking that way sooner.

Dawn and May hopped off their Hippopotas and ran up to the edge of the lake. They used their eyes to scan the water, looking for Mesprit.

"Do you see her?" May asked.

Before Dawn could answer, May was hit by Confusion, which knocked her off of her feet. Dawn turned to see where it had come from, and was surprised when she that the source was Mesprit!

"Just as I thought!" Mesprit exclaimed. "You have come... just as Uxie had foretold!"

"Angie told us we were coming?" queried Dawn.

"Yes... and she also had told me to be on the look out for someone stealing Time Gears! I couldn't ignore her warning... not after she told me hers was taken from her!"

"**WHAT?**" Dawn and May yelled.

Mesprit fired off another psychic-type blast. But instead of hurting them, this one allowed the girls to peer into Mesprit's mind as the Lake Guardian replayed the telepathic message that Angie had sent her the previous night...

* * *

_FOGBOUND LAKE_

_Angie was completely exhausted as she lied on the ground, so spent she couldn't do anything but lift her head up off the ground, towards her attacker. That happened to be Grovyle, who was equally as tired and found himself hurting too much to move either._

_"For someone like you," Angie panted, "to battle that admirably... it looks like your scheme ends here!"_

_"I do admit," gasped Grovyle, "that you're a pretty good battler yourself. I'd love to battle you again someday."_

_"Nice sentiment... but what makes you think there's going to be a rematch? Once I get up, there's no way I'm letting you leave her alive!"_

_"Sorry... but I'm gonna be long gone before you're back up."_

_Angie was a little confused by the statement... until she saw the sun's rays peeking through the fog and shining down on Grovyle's body. She watched in horror as slowly Grovyle's strength returned, allowing him to eventually get to his feet._

_Angie's next thought was to think about how to defend himself. Surely now Grovyle was going to try and kill her..._

_But instead, Grovyle jumped into the lake and swam towards the center. Angie looked on helplessly as Grovyle got there, dived down, found the Time Gear, and swam back to shore._

_Grovyle walked by Angie's limp body and headed towards the entrance to the Steam Cave. Before he departed, though, he stopped and turned to Angie one last time._

_"I promise that we will battle again someday! I know this because my name is Ash Ketchum... **AND I ALWAYS KEEP MY PROMISES!**"_

* * *

Dawn and May weren't pleased with hearing of the successful theft of Angie's Time Gear. Mesprit wasn't happy with the news either.

"You know what the weird thing is?" Mesprit asked them. "Unless this thief... this thief named Ash... has the power to travel through time, he would've come here next, trying to take my Time Gear personally. But seeing you two here and not him makes me believe that he doesn't."

"What exactly are you getting at?" May asked.

"Ash apparently has accomplices... and I'm looking at two of them right now!"

Dawn gasped. "But we're not accomplices! Honest!"

"Yeah!" added May. "We didn't even know Grovyle was Ash until this chapter! And we still don't even understand why that's true, because he's one of the good guys!"

"Your definition of him being good isn't the same as my definition! And if a person is not good... they must be evil!"

"No!"

"And anyone who associates with someone evil, must in turn also be evil!"

"We're telling you that's not true!" Dawn cried out.

"As one of the seven Frontier Brains, I have a duty to protect the Time Gear in my possession... as well as thwart anyone with visions of taking it and bringing the world to a standstill! My name is Anabel!"

Dawn and May watched as Anabel began to glow pink as she started to charge her psychic powers.

"And as Mesprit, the second Lake Guardian, my next course of action is clear! I'm going to have to take the two of you out!"

***** To be continued... *****


	7. Chapter Six

UNDERGROUND LAKE

Dawn, May, and their two Hippopotas were about to engage in battle with Anabel, the second of the Lake Guardians, who mistakenly believes that they are working with Ash to steal the Time Gears.

"You don't understand, Anabel!" Dawn pleaded. "We're trying to stop Ash from stealing the Time Gears! Not help him!"

"I'm sorry... but I don't believe you."

Anabel then used Confusion. Both of the girls dodged the attack, but their newly recruited pair of Hippopotas weren't so lucky. In fact, the attack confused them enough that, thinking the one attacking them was behind them, they turned around and ran out of the cave.

"What the heck?" May remarked. "That can't happen in the games!"

"This isn't a game," Dawn reminded her. "It's a fanfic."

"Yeah... a fanfic based off of a **GAME**! **HELLO?**"

"Ha," Anabel said, with a smirk on her face. "Some recruits they are, running at the first sign of trouble."

"So much for our advantage," sighed Dawn. "We hadn't even assigned people from the anime to voice them."

"You don't need them," Anabel assured her. "After all... you two are main characters!"

"She's right!" exclaimed May.

Dawn nodded.

"Then it's time we prove we're main characters... by proving ourselves innocent by winning a Pokémon battle!"

* * *

_[Theme song plays, to the tune of the Season 12 U.S. opening]_  
_Somewhere I sing a song_  
_As a Pokémon, it's wrong!_  
_In this body, a human girl_  
_From a different game, called Diamond and Pearl!_

_Piplup! (Piplup!)_  
_She's voiced by Dawn!_  
_Torchic! (Torchic!)_  
_Reprised by May!_  
_Grovyle! (Grovyle!)_  
_He's Ash Ketchum!_

_And if we find we can count to three_  
_We know home is where we will be_  
_Now let's start our grand quest_  
_Mystery Dungeon! Pokémon!_

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Just a note, 'May's Expedition 2' will be going on hiatus for a few weeks. See my profile page for more details!

Can the girls stop Ash from stealing all the Time Gears? Will they learn why he's stealing them? Let's get some answers, shall we...

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

**-**  
**Chapter Six (07.26.10)**  
**-**

"Ready, May?"

"Ready, Dawn!"

Dawn and May yelled with determination as they charged at Anabel. They jumped up into the air, both of their beaks glowing white.

"Dawn uses Peck!"

"May uses Peck!"

Anabel smiled as she countered them.

"Protect."

A impenetrable shield appeared around Anabel the instant just before Dawn and May's beaks connected with her skin. The two of them were repelled.

"What was that?" Dawn asked.

"Didn't you hear her?" May said back. "She said Protect!"

"Gee... you don't have to be so snippy about it."

Dawn decided to charge in for another attempt to use Peck. May pulled out a small index card, detailing the effects of Protect... which she read aloud.

"Protect negates all damage on any move that targets it on the turn it is activated. But with each consecutive use of Protect, its chances of working are reduced by 50 percent each time."

Dawn smiled as she closed in on Anabel. But Anabel was smiling too, as the shield had not only just appeared... it had never gone away after the girls' first attack!

"**WHAT?**"

Dawn collided with the shield beak first and was bounced back again. She flipped over twice in mid-air before landing on her back, right in front of May... who flipped the card she was reading over and found an addendum on the back.

"Note," May read, "in the Mystery Dungeon universe, one use of Protect lasts a random number of battle turns and protects the caster from all attacks until the spell wears off."

"Ugh," grunted Dawn as she got up and dusted herself off. "Now you tell me."

"What do we do? We can't prove our innocence if we can't attack her!"

"You know what they say... if at first you don't succeed, then try, try, try again!"

Sure enough, Dawn attempted to use Peck for the third time.

"**DID YOU TAKE STUPID PILLS WHEN I WASN'T LOOKING?**" May shouted.

Anabel glowed pink, and she seemed to be mouthing something as Dawn approached her.

"Confusion."

Dawn immediately skidded to a stop, made a 180-degree turn, and started barreling towards May. Before she knew it, Dawn hit May with Peck, knocking the latter girl to the ground.

"What was that for?" an angry May yelled, jumping back to her feet.

"But..." Dawn gawked, with a confused look. "I was attacking Anabel!"

"Do I look like an Anabel to you? You need to get your eyes checked!"

"And you need to just 'Shut the Hell Up!'"

['Shut the hell up!' Counter: 4]

Anabel had a look of concern on her face as the arguing between Dawn and May intensified so quickly that they had started attacking each other physically.

"I've heard of bad guys trying to one up each other," Anabel stated, "but this is ridiculous!"

She was about to step in to stop the fighting, but the scrum had already ended, with May faced down in the dirt, pinned down by Dawn's right penguin-sized foot.

"Now that we've established who's the dominant member of this pairing..."

Dawn stopped when she began to glow blue, to the surprise of both May and Anabel. Their current levels appeared above their heads: Anabel was at '18,' May at '19,' and Dawn at '21.'

Wait, scratch that... the '21' just changed to a '22.'

"Woo hoo!" Dawn cheered. "I'm at Level 22! That means I've learned a new attack!"

"**YOU LEARNED A NEW ATTACK FROM ATTACKING ME?**" May screamed, still partially face down in the dirt.

"Time to see what my new attack is!" Dawn smirked, ignoring May's screams and turning her attention back to Anabel.

Protect wore off of Anabel as Dawn stopped glowing, stepped away from May, and got ready to use her new move.

"Here it comes!"

Anabel watched and waited as Dawn opened her mouth... and a spray of bubbles was jetted in Anabel's direction.

"Is that Bubble?" Anabel asked as the bubbles drifted towards her.

"**WHAT ARE YOU, REMEDIAL?**" May screamed at Dawn, before calming down, as a sense of deja vu swept over her. "Wait... where have I heard that before?"

* * *

_MOUNT THUNDER PEAK 3F - In a past life_

_May shot a small ball of fire right at Zapdos' left wing. It caught on fire immediately, forcing Zapdos to make an emergency landing. She succeeded in landing on her two feet, but she was having problems putting out her smoking wing._

_"Yes!" May rejoiced. "Level 16! I just learned... Ember!"_

_"**WHAT ARE YOU, REMEDIAL?**" Bulbasaur shrieked._

* * *

"Bulbasaur," May thought out loud, "no, Max told me that once. But when was he ever a Bulbasaur?"

Anabel sighed in disappointment, Dawn's weak attack floating her way.

"I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'm pretty sure at Level 22 Piplup actually learns Bubblebeam. Which is, in fact, a stronger, more concentrated and speedier version of the Bubble attack."

Upon being corrected, the bubbles involuntarily merged into a beam. The combined beam shot increased its speed tenfold and flew straight at Anabel.

Anabel instinctively used Confusion to try and save herself. But she only succeeded in cutting the beam in half and redirecting that half back. The other half hit her head on, knocking her to the ground and almost completely out.

As for the deflected half, it returned to sender at twice its already accelerated speed... meaning Dawn had no chance to counter, much less dodge. The redirected portion of Bubblebeam nearly took Dawn out as well, as she was sent flying, landing on May's back... hurting both of them even more. Dawn then rolled off, and was face down on the ground, right next to her teammate.

All three young women were still conscious, but they were injured so badly that none of them could move.

"To say 'I didn't see that coming' is the understatement of the decade!" gasped Dawn.

"I'll say..."

All three of them perked up when they heard there was a male voice in the cave with them. They all looked behind where Anabel had been floating earlier, and they saw Ash, in his Grovyle body, slowly mock-applauding them.

Oh, and he had Anabel's Time Gear held under his left armpit.

"I'm just so glad we're anime characters," Ash stated, "because you three just ruined any sense of game mechanics this parody had."

Anabel wanted to get angry at Ash for waiting for all of them to get each other too exhausted to stop him. But she couldn't help but stare as her eyes scanned Ash's very masculine Pok mon body, which made her blush.

Dawn and May, though, weren't impressed.

"Don't you realize what you're doing?" Dawn asked him.

"All just because you want to be **THE** main character?" chided May.

"I can't explain it," Ash replied to them. "You're just gonna have to trust me."

Ash then ran out of the cave.

"So, it's like that, huh?" Dawn shouted. "Some friend you are!"

"Uh, Dawn..." May interrupted. "I think we have a much more pressing issue than Ash right now..."

May motioned her head to the cavern's ceiling and walls, which were all starting to gray out.

"Time's freezing all around us!"

That yell had come from Anabel, as she had come out of her romantic daydream as soon as she had sensed the impending doom.

"We have to get out of here!"

Anabel teleported over to the girls.

"Grab a hold of my tails!"

Unable to move their wings, Dawn and May used their mouths and bit down on Anabel's tail, one girl for each tail. Anabel ignored the sudden rush of pain and used her psychic powers to transport all three of them out of the cave and to safety.

Just in time, too, as the entire cave became stuck in time... and the Northern Desert region befell the same fate just seconds later.

* * *

Several days later...

Dawn, May, and Anabel returned to Treasure Town. Their battle in Anabel's lair was so draining that even after several days rest, Anabel still couldn't teleport them all the way back to Guild Headquarters. So they had to return the old-fashioned way.

Needless to say, Zoey, who was on guard duty, was surprised to see them alive.

"Ah!" Zoey gasped. "Where have you been?"

"It's a long story, Zo," Dawn replied, not wanting to bother with the details at the moment.

Then, without warning, Kelly popped up out of the ground, nearly scaring all four of the girls to death.

"You're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive!"

Kelly nuzzled her face in May's left wing, who seemed uncomfortably yet she allowed her 'friend' to continue.

* * *

Dawn and May gasped upon Zoey and Kelly leading them into the main hall. The rest of the Wigglytuff Guild, save for Harley and his cronies, who were notably absent, were equally surprised to see the girls still alive.

Barry was just upset, as he held up gravestones with their names on them in one paw and chiseling tools in the other. He ran over and started yelling at them, shoving the gravestones in their faces.

"**I SHOULD FINE YOU FOR MAKING ME CARVE THESE THINGS FOR NOTHING!** Do you see my little Bidoof paws? They're not made for chiseling!"

"Glad to see you care," Dawn sweatdropped.

Barry dropped the gravestones, grabbed Dawn by the shoulders, and started shaking her. But as he did, Dawn began to get another vision...

* * *

CRYSTAL LAKE

Ash smiled, then waved goodbye to Azelf, the last of the Lake Guardians, as he ran off with her Time Gear. Azelf stood by, helplessly as Ash departed. She then teleported away, as the lake and everything around her became frozen in time.

* * *

"Dawn... are you okay?"

Dawn came to, and she was surrounded by May, Zoey, Kelly, and Barry, all who had wondered if she was okay.

"I'm sorry," Barry bowed in apology several times in quick succession. "I was mad, but I wasn't trying to kill you! Honest!"

"I just had a vision!" Dawn told them.

Before she could describe it to them, though, Cyrus squeezed her way into the grouping.

"I knew there was something special about you," he said, pointing right at Dawn's beak. "You have... **IT!**"

"It? What's it?"

"A special ability called Dimensional Scream!" Cyrus explained. "It allows you to have visions of events that either have already occurred or will occur in the near future!"

"Really?"

"Yes! It's a very unique ability."

"Unique?" objected May. "But I've been having visions too!"

"You're not having visions," Cyrus corrected her, "you're having random flashbacks as pieces of long forgotten memories are bubbling back to the surface in your mind!"

"But is there a reason I'm suddenly recalling all of..."

May looked up and saw that Cyrus and the others were ignoring her, more focused on Dawn and her actual special ability.

"I just had a vision of Ash taking the Time Gear from the last of the Lake Guardians! We have to stop him!"

"Uh, yeah, Dawn?" Zoey tapped her on the shoulder. "About that..."

Everyone stepped aside so Dawn and May could have a clear glance to the other side of the room. There, the two girls saw Angie and Anabel comforting Azelf over her loss. Neither of them could believe it... Ash had succeeded in his plan to take all of the Time Gears?

"Don't tell me..." Dawn said hesitantly as she stepped up to the Lake Guardians, "that my vision... was a past event."

Azelf opened her mouth to answer, but Angie replied for her.

"Sadly, it was. Hers was taken last night."

"You don't have to cover for her," Cyrus said to Angie. "The subtitles are on."

Dawn and May looked at each other, befuddled.

"Subtitles?"

Azelf began to speak, but all that was coming out of her mouth were sounds incomprehensible to the English language. Yet the subtitle monitor accurately picked up all of Azelf's chirps.

(Caption Translation - "I am Latias. Yes, **THAT** Latias.")

"A legendary Pokémon voicing a different legendary Pokémon?" Dawn thought out loud. "Talk about stunt casting!"

"Which movie is Latias representing?" May asked.

"The fifth," answered Anabel.

"Ah. So the last one before I joined the anime."

"This is no time to be identifying guest stars!" Wallace exclaimed. "With all of the Time Gears in that thief's keep, the fabric of time and space is already being ripped apart! The world as we know it is about to cease to exist!"

"All hope is not lost!" Drew reassured Wallace. "Cyrus told us that we have 36 hours from the theft of the last Time Gear to get them all back and restore the balance!"

"Which is why if we don't hurry now," Cyrus shouted, "we won't have reason to hurry at all soon. The theft of Azelf's... I mean, Latias' Time Gear, was 16 hours ago. That means we only have 20 hours to locate Ash, get the Time Gears back, and return them to their rightful place!"

"How do we find Ash?" questioned Zoey. "If he has all the Time Gears already, then there's no reason for him to stay in our time."

"That means that he could've already gone back to the future," Anabel noted, already presenting the worst-case scenario.

"I assure you that he is still in this time!" yelled Cyrus.

"How... how would you know that?" Dawn wondered. "Do you have a tracking device on him?"

"No. But I can sense his aura. It's faint, and I can't pinpoint his location. But he's still hasn't returned home yet."

"Maybe he doesn't have a way to get back home," suggested Drew.

"If that's the case, there may be hope yet," Wallace stated with a smile.

"We have to draw him out before he can escape this time," Cyrus said to the entire Guild. "I have concocted a foolproof plan to apprehend him... using this!"

Cyrus reached into his ghostly body and pulled out... a Time Gear!

"A... a Time Gear?" identified Dawn.

"A fake one," Anabel stated bluntly. "It looks like one, but it does not operate like one."

"You really think he's gonna fall for this?" questioned Angie.

"Yes! Information on the Time Gears is scarce and unreliable in his time. He'll take one look at this thing and believe it's the real deal!"

"Assuming Ash is that gullible," May prefaced, "how will this work?"

* * *

APPLE WOODS 8F

"My sources tell me that Apple Woods is one of the few places in the entire world that is not yet affected by the removal of the Time Gears," narrated Cyrus.

Barry was scanning the forest with his eyes, when all of a sudden he heard the sound of someone biting into an Apple. Barry looked up into a tree, following the noise...

And there he was. Ash was eating an Apple. But more importantly, he had a shoulder bag on him, and all of the Time Gears were in it.

"The first part of my plan is drawing the perp out..." Cyrus stated.

"What's the big deal, Ash?" Barry yelled, getting Ash's attention as he danced around like he had ants in his pants.

"Barry? What are you doing here?"

"You thought you could get away with it, didn't ya? Well, guys what! You missed one!"

Barry held up the fake Time Gear given to him by Cyrus. Ash leaped out of the tree and down to the ground, landing on his feet.

"How can that be?" a puzzled Ash looked at Barry.

Ash took out of his shoulder bag the strategy guide he had found in the Treasure Town landfill. Barry watched as Ash flipped to the page that listed all of the Time Gears.

"See? This strategy guide says there's only five. And I have all of them right here."

He patted the outside of his shoulder bag.

"You gonna believe some silly book, or your eyes?"

Barry waved the Time Gear around. Ash's eyes followed Barry's movements, as he tried to identify if it was real or not. Believing it to be the real deal, Ash tossed aside the strategy guide and turned his attention towards Barry.

"Say... you wanna battle me for it? Winner takes all!"

Barry gasped. "Winner takes all?"

The gears in Barry's brain started to turn.

"Does he mean if I beat him in battle," he thought, "he'll give me all the Time Gears, and the world will be safe all thanks to me! I'll be a hero!"

Barry started to seriously contemplate agreeing to Ash's terms. But then he saw Ash smile at him, an air of confidence visible in it.

"But maybe he's betting it all so easily because he knows he can beat me! If that happens, the world will stop forever, and it'll be my fault! Aw man..."

Ash could see Barry struggling with the decision. And he wasn't happy.

"Man, you too? You know, I felt sorry for taking advantage of Mesprit, and Azelf let me have her Time Gear without a fight. As much as I want to succeed, I don't want everything handed to me just like that."

Barry finally made his mind. He was going to stick to the plan. And by that, it meant turning tail and running away from a challenge.

"I'll fine myself for skipping out on a battle," Ash heard Barry yell, "but this is for the fate of the world!"

"That isn't what I meant when I wanted a challenge!"

Ash chased after Barry, going after his Time Gear.

* * *

APPLE WOODS 5F

"You girls will come in for Part Two..." Cyrus continued on.

Barry ran into a clearing in the woods, where Dawn and May were waiting.

"Somebody owes me my reputation for this!" Barry shouted as he ran past them.

Dawn and May looked behind them and saw Barry still running, but they faced front again when they heard someone come to a stop before them. It was Ash.

"Dawn and May!"

"The show ends here, Ash!" declared Dawn.

"Do the right thing!" proclaimed May. "Share the spotlight!"

"I can't do that!"

Ash turned around and tried to run, but the rest of the Wigglytuff Guild had been hiding in the area... and they had surrounded him. But it wasn't them he should've been worried about.

It was Angie, Anabel, and Latias, aka the Lake Guardians, who were the biggest threat, as they used their psychic powers to, without warning, pick him up and fling him into a tree. Ash hit head-first, knocking him out.

"It worked!" May raised her wings in triumph.

"Yeah!" Dawn shouted. "Now we can get back to the real story... which is trying to find me a way home!"

Cyrus appeared next to Ash and picked his body off of the ground. He then pulled the shoulder bag full of Time Gears from Ash.

"Hold on," Cyrus smirked. "There's a Part Three."

"Does it involve helping him see the error of his ways?" Angie asked. "Me and my girls can do that!"

"We're good at setting guys straight," Anabel shyly noted. "Real... straight."

"(We'll love him like he's never been loved before!)" exclaimed Latias. "(Love him, love him, love him!)"

"That's great," Cyrus responded to the girls' ideas for Ash, "but my Part Three isn't what you expect!"

Cyrus snapped his fingers, and a portal opened up behind him. Everyone watched as Cyrus flung Ash's unconscious body into it, sending the bad guy back to the future.

"I hope you understand that I head back to my own time to bring this rascal to justice without a more formal goodbye."

"That's well and good," Wallace agreed, "but what about the Time Gears?"

Cyrus smirked.

"I'm taking them with me... as a souvenir."

Everyone gasped with shock.

"Oh... and them too."

Cyrus disappeared, then instantly reappeared right behind Dawn and May. Before the girls could react, Cyrus used Shadow Punch to send them both flying into the portal.

"**AHHHHHHHH!**" both girls screamed as they felt themselves being hurled through time.

Cyrus laughed maniacally as he flew in after the duo, leaving the members of the Wigglytuff Guild unable to do anything as the portal closed immediately after he went through it.

***** To be continued... *****


	8. Chapter Seven

"Man... that was a great nap!" Dawn thought to herself as she awakened.

Dawn tried to spread her wings so she could stretch them, but found herself unable to move them. She tried opening her eyes, but all she could see was darkness. She tried speaking, but something was keeping her beak from opening. Feeling something was wrong, she began wriggling around, trying to break free from her restraints.

"I think they're awake," she heard someone say.

Dawn felt someone reach behind the back of her head and untie something. Seconds later, Dawn was able to see again. She was staring right into the eyes of a Sableye, who was holding a blindfold that he had just untied from her head. That same Sableye then went to work undoing the restraint on her beak.

Once that was done, Dawn decided to use the opportunity to demand some answers.

"What's going on here?"

"I'd like to know the same thing."

Dawn looked to her right and saw May in the same situation as she was, with her blindfold and beak gag having just been removed.

"What are you doing here?"

Both girls then turned to their left and saw Ash was tied up as well. In fact, all three were bound to erect, 12-foot poles.

"You're not supposed to be here!" Ash shouted at the girls.

"We're not criminals!" May cried out. "Why are we being treated like such?"

"Yeah!" Dawn added. "We want answers!"

They were all looking at the Sableye in front of them, a half-dozen in total. Suddenly, Team Galactic shirts and beanie hats appeared on all of them. They then stepped aside, three to the left and three to the right, and bowed as a larger Pokémon began to emerge from the shadows.

"All hail Team Galactic!" the Sableye proclaimed. "All hail Team Galactic!"

"Eek!" screamed Dawn, "we're being held by a religious cult!"

"Wait," Ash cut in, "what's religion?"

"There's no religion in Pokémon!" May shouted at them. "Well, not in the traditional sense. I mean, we worship some Pokémon as gods, but..."

"We're not a religious cult," Cyrus stated, stepping out of the shadows. "We're Team Galactic, and we're..."

"The worst religious cult in the history of religious cults!" Dawn yelled.

"I'll prove we're not a religious cult!"

"When?"

"Right after the theme song."

* * *

_[Theme song plays, to the tune of the Season 12 U.S. opening]_  
_Somewhere I sing a song_  
_As a Pokémon, it's wrong!_  
_In this body, a human girl_  
_From a different game, called Diamond and Pearl!_

_Piplup! (Piplup!)_  
_She's voiced by Dawn!_  
_Torchic! (Torchic!)_  
_Reprised by May!_  
_Grovyle! (Grovyle!)_  
_He's Ash Ketchum!_

_And if we find we can count to three_  
_We know home is where we will be_  
_Now let's start our grand quest_  
_Mystery Dungeon! Pokémon!_

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Ready for the final three chapters and epilogue? Time to jump back into the storyline, with a leap into [spoiler alert!].

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

**-**  
**Chapter Seven (09.06.10)**  
**-**

"So?" Dawn looked at Cyrus. "Start explaining!"

"Fine. You see... **KILL THEM ALL!**"

The six Sableye approached Dawn, May, and Ash, with murder present in their eyes.

"Now what?" May asked.

"Stay perfectly still," Ash told them.

"**WHAT?**" both girls shouted.

"Trust me!"

The Sableye unsheathed their claws and lunged at the trio, apparently planning to use Fury Swipes to do them in. But the grunts were highly untrained, and instead of slicing the three of them to pieces, they instead sliced apart the ropes, freeing them instead.

"Time to get out of here!"

Ash produced a Luminous Orb from his pouch and held it out.

"Touch it, now!"

Dawn and May followed Ash's order without hesitation, as soon as they did, all three of their bodies vanished from the area, leaving behind a stunned group of Galactic Grunts and the leader, Cyrus.

"Don't just stand there!" Cyrus barked at them. "Those Luminous Orbs have a very limited range! Split up and find them!"

The Sableye split up and headed out of the room. Cyrus also left to join in the search. But in their haste, they failed to notice the hole in the ground where Dawn, May, and Ash had been standing.

Deep within the hole, Ash was using Dig to burrow a passage to the outside world. The girls were reluctantly following him.

"So glad they didn't know what Luminous Orbs actually do," Ash snickered.

* * *

Ash eventually brought them back to the surface, roughly three-quarters of a mile from the building they were in. He climbed out, and Dawn and May followed suit.

It was then that the girls noticed that the scenery around them lacked color... and movement. All life around them had been frozen in time.

"Where are we?" Dawn asked aloud.

"Not where," Ash replied ominously, "but when is the right question."

May gasped. "The future! That's right... for some reason, Dusknoir... I mean Cyrus, said he was returning to his time period to bring Ash to justice. But then he pushed us into the portal as well!"

"He wasn't bringing me to justice!" Ash exclaimed. "He was trying to stop me..."

"From becoming the main character, we know!" grumbled Dawn.

"No. He was trying to stop me from saving the world!"

"From what?"

"From Primal Dialga!"

* * *

CHASM CAVE 1F

Ash led the group to Chasm Cave, where they met its dwellers Magnemite, Drifloon, and Grumpig. Luckily for them, they too were also frozen in time and unable to move.

"Where are you taking us?" May asked angrily.

"I'm trying to get you home," Ash answered. "And get myself back too, so I can finish my mission!"

"What mission? Why aren't you explaining any of this to us?"

"Because Cyrus and his flunkies are right behind us! I know Cyrus like the back of my hand... he doesn't let prisoners escape a second time. If he finds us, he'll kill us right on the spot!"

"Get them!" they all heard Cyrus' voice coming from the cave entrance, "kill with extreme prejudice!"

"We don't have a choice but to go with him, May!" Dawn said to her travel partner.

"Fine," May relented. "But I don't trust him one bit!"

* * *

The chase forced Dawn, May, and Ash to run through Chasm Cave, Dark Hill, Sealed Ruins, and Deep Sealed Ruins all over the course of several days, as they struggled to keep one step ahead of Cyrus and his cronies. Not that they could count days, seeing as how time was stopped... but you get the idea.

But eventually...

* * *

DEEP SEALED RUINS INTERIOR AREA

"That's it!" May shouted. "I'm tired of running for my life!"

"Don't say that!" Dawn told her. "Unless you really want to die..."

"Why are we even trusting Ash right now?" May asked as she pointed at him. "I still haven't found a reason to trust him after all of the stuff he did to our time!"

"Do you trust me now?" Ash asked.

"What? No!"

"Then... trust me when I say there's a Pokémon behind you."

"Yeah, right! As if I believe you!"

May turned around and... found herself staring face-to-face with a Spiritomb.

"It's a ghost!" Dawn screamed. "A living, breathing ghost not frozen in time! And that line... doesn't make a load of sense!"

May slowly backed away and to the side of Dawn and Ash.

"We finally find someone here not frozen in time," May said. "And he's going to try and kill us! Like everyone not frozen in time in the future!"

"Now what?" Dawn asked. "It won't be long before Cyrus catches up to us!"

"Stop!" Ash called out to Spiritomb.

Ash's sudden demand caused Dawn and May to look oddly at him.

"We're not your enemies, Fergus! We're here to save you! To save the world! So, please, let us pass!"

But Fergus wasn't budging.

"Team Galactic's rule is law! All hail Team Galactic!"

Fergus charged forward, trying to use Faint Attack. But Dawn, May, and Ash all dodged it.

"You're not supposed to worship Team Galactic!" Ash shouted at Fergus. "You're from the first movie! Team Galactic doesn't even debut until 400 episodes or so after that!"

"He's not listening," Dawn said as he grabbed Ash by the arm. "Time to go, time to go!"

Dawn pulled Ash towards the exit, with May right behind. Fergus tried to follow, but there was a mysterious spell that had been placed on him that kept him from leaving the ruins at all.

* * *

Once clear of the ruins and sure that Fergus wasn't following them, Dawn, May, and Ash stopped to catch their breaths.

"So," Ash glanced May's way, "do you trust me now?"

"No!" May replied defiantly.

Ash sighed. "How do you expect us to work together to get back to your time if there's no trust between us?"

"He's right," Dawn sided with him. "After all, he could've just left us behind to die, and yet he saw fit to rescue us."

May thought about it for a minute, and then decided to give in.

"Okay, Ash. It goes against my woman's intuition, but I trust you."

"That's a relief."

"That still doesn't excuse you from explaining what the heck's going on!"

"Yeah!" voiced Dawn, now agreeing with May. "Time to spill! About you trying to save the world, this Primal Dialga character, and everything in-between!"

"I guess I owe you girls that much," Ash said. "As you can see around you, the entire planet has fallen into a state of paralysis. The reason why is because Temporal Tower has collapsed."

"Temporal Tower?"

"Yeah. Temporal Tower has only one resident... the legendary Pokémon known as Dialga. She is the Deity of Time. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, she's been overtaken by darkness. She's supposed to protect everyone in the world, but now that she's become Primal Dialga, the only Pokémon she thinks is worth preserving is herself!"

"One of those 'all about me' types," commented May. "Figures."

"What about the Time Gears?" questioned Dawn.

"Well, despite what you may believe," continued Ash, "if I can collect all the Time Gears, I can use them to reconstruct Temporal Tower to the way it used to be. The thing is, Primal Dialga doesn't want that to happen, and that's why she sent Cyrus back in time to stop me!"

"So this Dialga is even more powerful than Team Galactic?" Dawn tried to get straight. "That's unbelievable!"

"Too much so," scoffed May, "I don't believe you."

"It's imperative we go back to the past!" Ash said to them. "The fate of my world here in the future as well as yours hangs in the balance!"

"There's only one problem," Dawn said to him. "Neither May or I have the power to time travel. The only one we know of is Cyrus... and I don't think he'll help us."

"There is one other Pokémon. That is, if Primal Dialga hasn't gotten to her first."

"Who?"

Ash started walking away from them.

"We have to get to the Dusk Forest."

He then ran off. Dawn and May followed, again forced to do so without knowing what awaited them ahead.

* * *

DUSK FOREST 9F

The trio proceeded deep into the Dusk Forest, looking for Ash's friend. All of a sudden, the girls started to hear the sound of an ocarina being played. And it was getting louder the more they kept walking.

"The music sounds... so sad," expressed May.

"And yet... it inspires hope," concluded Dawn.

"It's her!" Ash said aloud. "She's trying to guide us to her! C'mon!"

Ash started to sprint, and almost left Dawn and May behind, as their short little legs couldn't keep up with his long ones. Thankfully, they didn't have to run far, as they soon came upon the source of the music.

It was Celebi, who was playing an ocarina carved out of a seashell.

"Who knew Pokémon could be musically inclined?" May commented. "Even cute, green, weird-looking ones."

That comment made Celebi stop playing. She was angered by it, apparently.

"I don't have to take this guff from an amateur!"

She then started to float away. But before she could get too far, Ash grabbed her arm to stop her.

"We need your help, Melody!" Ash told her. "Most of all, I need your help!"

Melody looked into Ash's eyes and saw that he was genuinely telling the truth.

"Okay... but I'm doing it for you. Not for them... especially not the Torchic."

"I have a name!" May shouted.

"So, what do you need?"

"I need to go back to the past," answered Ash. "Now."

"Well, you could use the Passage of Time. I can open it for you."

"Great!"

"I hope your travel partners are up for getting there. It won't be easy."

Melody started to head off towards the entrance towards the Deep Dark Forest. Ash walked over to Dawn and May to tell them what was up.

"Melody will lead us to the Passage of Time. We can use that to return to your time."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Dawn said excitedly. "Let's go!"

* * *

DEEP DUSK FOREST 7F

**MONSTER HOUSE!**

The foursome was surrounded by a group consisting of a Hippowdown, two Aggron, two Vulpix, and a Steelix.

"I change my mind," Dawn cried out. "Let's go back, let's go back!"

"No!" denied Ash.

"How can we even fit in here?" May pointed out, referring to the fact that they were on a small one-room floor.

"Through the power of random dungeon generation!" replied Melody. "Oh, and before we're dead..."

Melody held up a Petrify Orb, which immediately petrified all of the enemy Pok mon in the room. The four then headed for the stairs.

"Awesome idea!" May said to her. "Where'd you get that?"

"From your backpack."

"Awesome! Wait, I mean... what?"

* * *

DEEP DUSK FOREST CLEARING

After getting through the rest of the forest, the group arrived in a clearing, where a portal named 'Passage of Time' awaited them. It was turned off, but it wouldn't be for long as Melody flew over to it.

"I just need a couple of minutes..." Melody said aloud, as she started the portal's boot-up procedures.

"I'm afraid your time is up!"

The foursome gasped as they turned around to see Cyrus and his troop of Sableye grunts arrive on the scene.

"If you think we're going to let you go back to the past," Cyrus said to them, "then you're sorely mistaken!"

Dawn took three Sitrus Berries out of the backpack, ate one, then handed one each to May and Ash, each of whom also quickly consumed them.

"You thinking we each get two of the grunts," Ash suggested, "and then we go after Cyrus himself?"

"Exactly!" Dawn nodded in confirmation.

"Pretty confident you can take us, huh?" Cyrus smiled. "Well, then allow me to introduce you to my boss!"

Suddenly, the group heard loud footsteps approaching. Their worst fear was about to come true, as Primal Dialga walked up behind Cyrus.

"**I'M GONNA KEEP FOLLOWING YOU 'TIL YOU STOP TRYING TO FIND THE TIME GEARS, ASH KETCHUM!**" Primal Dialga screamed at the top of her lungs.

Ash dropped to his knees, and started begging to be spared.

"Misty, please stop! I'm doing this to save you! To turn you good again!"

"**THAT'S MISTY?**" Dawn and May shouted simultaneously.

"Wait," Dawn added afterward, "who's Misty?"

"Ash's girlfriend," chuckled Melody.

"**I'M A GIRL AND A FRIEND OF HIS, BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME HIS GIRLFRIEND!**" yelled Misty.

"Quiet, all of you!" shushed Cyrus. "It's time for the extinguishing of these infidels! But first, I'm sure our little heroine, the Piplup, would want to remember what her life was **BEFORE** she was a Pokémon."

"Now that I think of it," admitted Dawn, "all I remember that I was a human before coming to this world... but not what I did or how I ended up here in the first place."

"Well, allow me to explain! To be honest, I'm sure Ash over there has explained why he's collecting the Time Gears, right?"

"Yes."

"But I bet he didn't tell you everything."

"What are you talking about?" Ash looked at Cyrus as he got to his feet. "I told her everything I knew!"

"Then you apparently don't know the best part."

"What's that?" Ash and Dawn simultaneously asked.

"Dawn here not only used to be human, but she also was Ash's master!"

"I was **WHAT**?" Dawn gasped in disbelief.

"No way!" denied Ash. "That can't be true! I'd know if that were true!"

"Ah, but it is!" Cyrus said with a smile. "Dawn was your master, Ash, and together, the two of you used the Passage of Time to go back to the past to complete your mission!"

"Even if that's true, then why weren't we get together when we exited the other side of the portal? And why did Dawn turn into a Piplup?"

"Plot conveniences that need no explanations," Cyrus answered both queries at once.

"But wait..." Ash looked at Melody, "aren't **YOU** the only one who can operate the Passage of Time?"

Melody lowered her head and looked away. Her decision to not give an answer was the answer Ash dreaded, but knew was coming.

"You were here that day and activated the Passage of Time the first time! So that means..."

"Dawn was a human girl," Melody confirmed, "and you, Grovyle, was a Grovyle, her most loyal Pokémon."

"But why? Why wouldn't you have told me that upon seeing me again?"

"Because I didn't want to bring up bad memories. I gave up a lot the first time I sent you back to the past."

"Like what?"

"Like... like the chance to win your heart."

"My... my heart?"

"Yeah. I almost didn't help you the first time because I knew how close you were to Dawn. And if I let the two of you run away to the past, then you'd be free to take your relationship to the next level. While I'd be stuck here in this dismal future without a boyfriend."

Dawn and Ash had eerily similar reactions.

"You thought Dawn and I were in..."

"You thought Ash and I were in..."

"Love?" the two said in unison.

"That's stupid!" Misty shouted at Melody. "Ash wouldn't know love if it bit him on the ankle!"

"You think that matters?" Melody responded. "I loved him more than you, or Dawn, or any other girl in this series! Ash and I... we were destined to be together!"

"Creepy stalker girl much?" May raised an eyebrow at Melody's rant.

"Wait a minute!" Dawn thought out loud. "What if your jealousy was the reason I became a Piplup, and when I woke up Ash wasn't with me? If all this stuff is true, anyway."

"It is true," Melody confirmed, "and a possible rational explanation for an unexplainable plot convenience? Maybe."

"So if we go through the portal with you satisfied thinking Ash and I aren't in love, then maybe I'll become human again?"

"Do I look like a scientist?" Melody put her hands on her hips.

"I guess the only way we'll find out is if we try," concluded Ash. "Melody, start the Passage of Time up! We're going to get Dawn's human body back!"

"Oh no, you don't!" objected Cyrus. "Get them!"

He pointed forward, signaling the Galactic Grunts to attack.

"Don't let them open the Passage of Time at all costs!" shouted Misty. "Even if it means having to kill them all!"

Melody worked as fast as she could, as Dawn, May, and Ash prepared to fight to their lives.

"Allow me to fight for you," Ash said to Dawn.

"Nonsense!" objected Dawn. "I'm still a Pokémon right now, so I can take care of myself!"

"Alright," Ash conceded. "Just be careful."

"Yeah. You too."

Suddenly, the sound of the Passage of Time opening could be heard. Seeing the portal active, Ash instinctively acted by grabbing Dawn and throwing her into the Passage of Time.

"**ASHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**" shouted Dawn as she disappeared into the portal.

He then turned to May and did the same thing, tossing her in before she could voice an objection.

"I said stop them, stop them!" Misty yelled again.

"Destroy the portal if you have to!" added Cyrus.

Ash was about to hop into the portal himself, when...

"Wait!"

Ash turned to look at Melody, who threw what looked like a seed at him. Ash easily caught and was surprised to see that the object was actually a Golden Seed.

"It's for May! Tell her to eat it and she'll understand everything afterward!"

"But how did you..."

The Sableye leaped at the Passage of Time and started destroying it. One jumped at Ash, who immediately threw him right back off, while Melody dodged the Fury Swipes of another Sableye.

"**GO!**"

Ash didn't waste a second more, as he made it through the Passage of Time. In the nick of time, too, as a second later, the portal's generator was destroyed, instantly closing the Passage of Time.

The grunts grabbed Melody before she could run off and escape. She tugged and pulled, attempting to break free, but it was no use as Misty and Cyrus walked over to her.

"If you think I'm helping you chase after Ash and his friends," Melody scowled, "then you're wrong!"

"You're going to help us," Misty assured her, "whether you like it or not!"

***** To be continued... *****


	9. Chapter Eight

_[Theme song plays, to the tune of the Season 12 U.S. opening]_  
_Somewhere I sing a song_  
_As a Pokémon, it's wrong!_  
_In this body, a human girl_  
_From a different game, called Diamond and Pearl!_

_Piplup! (Piplup!)_  
_She's voiced by Dawn!_  
_Torchic! (Torchic!)_  
_Reprised by May!_  
_Grovyle! (Grovyle!)_  
_He's Ash Ketchum!_

_And if we find we can count to three_  
_We know home is where we will be_  
_Now let's start our grand quest_  
_Mystery Dungeon! Pokémon!_

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

Jumping right into it this week. Enjoy Chapter 8, folks!

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

**-**  
**Chapter Eight (09.13.10)**  
**-**

"Wingull! Wingull! Wingull!"

Dawn was stirred awake by the sound of a flock of Wingull passing by overhead. As she opened her eyes, she noticed that there was a Torchic sitting on the sand just a few feet away, her beak buried deep in a book.

"What's a Torchic doing all the..."

"Let's just stop right there," interrupted May. "We can continue this at my old house."

"And by continue," Ash added, walking up in his Grovyle body, "I mean get back to the task at..."

* * *

SHARPEDO BLUFF

"Pedo! Pedo!"

A group of Sharpedo swam in a circle in the body of water that lied below Sharpedo Bluff, where May's pre-Guild residence sat cliff-side.

"Pedo!" shouted the lead Sharpedo, voiced by Marcus, the villain from 'Arceus and the Jewel of Life.' "We all live in a pedo pedo world!"

"Pedo pedo world!" the other Sharpedo 'sang' backup.

"I wanna stick my fin in the heroine's..."

* * *

"Hand," Ash finished his sentence. "As in, I need to gather the Time Gears so I can restore Temporal Tower. And get Dawn her body back."

"You mean," Dawn looked disappointed as she finally realized that she was still a Piplup. "Aw..."

* * *

"Nuts, nuts, **NUTS!**" sang Marcus. "We want some nuts!"

"Cashews, peanuts, pistachios, we don't care what kind!" sang the others.

* * *

"**ENOUGH WITH THE PEANUT GALLERY!**" May shouted.

"I don't know how much time we have until the present here is affected by the future," Ash said to the girls, "so we need to find all of the Time Gears again as soon as possible. The problem is, they've been randomly thrown into different dungeons thanks to us screwing up the space-time continuum even more by traveling to the future and back."

"So how are we going to find them this time?" asked Dawn. "You still have that strategy guide, right?"

"Actually, no, I... how did you know I used a strategy guide to find them the first time? I never told you that!"

Dawn shrugged her shoulders.

"Anyway, the only way we'll find them now is if you use Dimensional Scream to pick up their locations."

"Okay, if you say so..."

Dawn closed her eyes and tapped into the power of Dimensional Scream. It only took a few seconds for her to get a vision of where to locate the first Time Gear.

"It's in a place called Treeshroud Forest," Dawn said out loud.

"And how about the others?"

"Well?"

"Never mind. I'll figure it out myself. You guys just figure out how to get to Temporal Tower in this time period!"

With that, Ash took off to find the Time Gears on his own.

"He's even more impatient than Barry," commented Dawn, "if that's even possible."

"Hey!" May exclaimed. "He dropped something!"

May saw a Golden Seed on the ground. She picked it up and eyed it suspiciously.

"I've never seen a seed like this."

"Looks special. We'd better hold on to it."

May nodded, then slipped the Golden Seed into her backpack.

"Maybe now's a good time to let the Guild know we're back from the future," suggested May.

"Excellent idea!"

* * *

"Horrible idea!"

Dawn and May were standing before Barry, who was jumping up and down in anger in front of a half-completed time machine he was building.

"**I SHOULD FINE YOU FOR MAKING ME BUILD THESE THINGS FOR NOTHING!** Seriously, do you two get off on making me suffer like this?"

Nando sighed as he grabbed Barry using his claw and dragged the screaming Bidoof away, leaving Dawn and May behind with Zoey and Brianna.

"So how did you get back from the future?" queried Zoey.

"Yeah!" added Brianna. "Inquiring minds want to know!"

"You see..." May started explaining.

Wallace walked up, overjoyed upon seeing Dawn and May safe and sound. Drew flew in as well, breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing them.

"So go on," Wallace prompted May. "You were about to tell us that Ash is a good guy and that this time we should let him gather all the Time Gears or otherwise the world will become frozen in time forever?"

The girls glared at Wallace.

"What?"

"If Guild Master Wallace says it," Drew stated, "then it must be true!"

"There's just one problem," brought up Dawn. "After gathering the Time Gears, we have to take them to Temporal Tower. Problem is, we don't know where that is."

"It's in a place called Hidden Land," revealed Wallace.

"Where's that?"

"How would I know? It's not called Hidden Land just for show! It's land that's actually hidden!"

"Wow," gasped Brianna. "We're actually doomed."

"Not necessarily," Drew got an idea. "There may be one person who might know where Hidden Land might be, and that's..."

"**NEWTON GRACELAND!**" Dawn and May shouted in unison as they looked at each other.

"I was actually gonna say Brock, but... yeah, your idea was better."

"So, let's go!" Dawn shouted.

Everyone stood there silently for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. But when it didn't, Dawn and May shot confused looks at Wallace and Drew.

"Aren't you going to stuff us in a cannon and fire us to the Torkoal Graceland Hot Springs Resort?" asked Dawn.

"It's currently out of commission," Wallace told them.

"But don't worry," Drew reassured them, "we've got another mode of transportation lined up for you!"

* * *

Dawn and May both had displeased frowns on their face as they rode on the back of a Camerupt, who was walking at a very slow speed.

"I'd still rather be shot out of a cannon," May remarked.

* * *

"Nice to see you two little ladies again!"

Camerupt was busy licking water out of what looked to be a doggie dish as Dawn and May chatted with Newton inside his still under construction but nearly completed hot springs resort.

"I'm surprised you're still together though," Newton continued, as he turned to look at May. "You're sure taking your sweet time getting your revenge!"

"What revenge?" Dawn shouted. "May has no reason to hate me!"

"Yeah," added May. "You never explained why I should be trying to get revenge!"

"Besides, we're here to see if you can help us find a place called Hidden Land."

"Well, I'd like to help, but I want you girls to do something for me first."

Dawn sighed. "Fine."

"I want you to find me the Relic Fragment. It's the final piece I need to complete The Chandelier of Old Relics!"

Newton pointed to a nearly-finished chandelier made up entirely of plain and shiny rocks lying on the rocky floor in the corner of the chamber. There was a hole the size of the Relic Fragment in the chandelier that was waiting to be filled.

"Once I get that last piece, I can finish the chandelier, hang it, and finally open this place up to the public!"

"Is this is?" May asked, producing a Relic Fragment out of nowhere.

"Yes! That's it! Where did you find it?"

"From over there."

Dawn pointed to a large mess of a pile on the opposite of the chamber, which had empty bottles of shampoo, used combs, and an assortment of other things in it.

"I really should sort that pile," Newton said aloud as he made a mental note in his brain.

He then walked over to the chandelier and started to attach the Relic Fragment to it. That is, until he noticed something wrong.

"Hmmm... this thing's a little too big. I can't use it."

"What?" Dawn and May both looked at him.

He took the Relic Fragment and handed it back to May.

"Here. Maybe you girls can make better use of this thing. Maybe it'll help you find where Hidden Land is."

"This?" May stared closely at the relic.

"Ask that Wigglytuff master of yours... Wallace, right? He might have the answers you're looking for."

"I guess it's back to the Guild then," sighed Dawn.

"Oh, before you go... **REVENGE!**"

"**WILL YOU STOP THAT?**" Dawn shouted at him.

* * *

The girls returned to the Wigglytuff Guild, only to get another surprise. Wallace wasn't there, and Drew was sitting on his throne.

"Um..." Dawn wondered as she looked around the guild master's chamber, "did we miss something here?"

"Oh, no," Drew said to them. "Wallace apparently decided he had to go on vacation. Too stressed out about the world coming to an end, y'know?"

"What? But we were hoping he could help us with something!"

May placed the Relic Fragment she was holding down onto the ground.

"Newton said this might help us find where Hidden Land is."

"But there's no writing on this at all," May added. "I don't see how this is going to help."

Drew starting looking the Relic Fragment, and upon closer inspection, realized that he knew what type of rock it was made out of.

Sort of.

"I don't know what kind of rock this is, but I know of only one place in this world that it can be found! Brine Cave!"

"You're saying the key to finding Hidden Land is there?" Dawn asked for confirmation.

"It might very well be! But it's very far away from here. We'll have to get supplies and adequate transportation."

"Right!" both girls said simultaneously.

"I'd better come with you. Some of the strongest Pokémon in the world reside there! You're going to need my help."

"Sure," May agreed. "The more, the merrier!"

"Very well... we leave at dawn!"

* * *

BRINE CAVE 1F

"So I finally get to be partnered up with you, Drew," Dawn said with excitement. "I hope you're as great as they say!"

"No need to worry," Drew said with a smile. "I'm the best there is. Except for Guild Master Wallace, that is."

Dawn giggled, while May huffed as she walked behind the two of them. Suddenly, the three stopped when they saw an Omanyte blocking their way to the stairs.

"Let me handle this," Drew told Dawn as he stepped forward.

Seeing Drew approach, Omanyte reacted by using Brine. Drew flapped his wings forward, towards the oncoming attack.

"Take this! Mirror Move!"

Mirror Move reflected the attack back at Omanyte, knocking the opposing Pokémon backwards. Omanyte charged back in and attacked again, this time utilizing Water Gun. Drew dodged this attack, then swooped in for one of his own, as his beak started to glow.

"Fury Attack!"

Drew jabbed Omanyte with his beak several times in quick succession. After taking the punishing blows, Omanyte turned around and ran away, unwilling to be on the receiving end of any more attacks.

"That's awesome!" an impressed Dawn gasped.

"I could've done that," May muttered under her breath.

"Shall we move on?" Drew asked rhetorically.

Drew then led the girls up the stairs to the next floor of the dungeon. Little did they know that a group of shadowy figures was tailing them.

* * *

BRINE CAVE 9F

"How much further do we have to go?"

May asked that question, exasperated, as she had been carrying the Relic Fragment all day.

"Just a few more floors down," replied Drew.

"Then why don't you carry this thing? You're a guy, aren't you?"

"Very well."

Drew took it, knowing it was the gentlemanly thing to do, even though he was tired from all of the battling he had done in order to keep Dawn and May from expending unneeded energy. But just as May was about to hand the Relic Fragment over, somebody jumped in-between the two of them and intercepted the pass.

The trio gasped in shock when they saw that the interceptor was a Skuntank, who had the Relic Fragment entrenched in his mouth.

"Harley!" the girls shouted, recognizing him.

"And don't forget about us!" shouted Jessie and Conway appeared on either side of Harley.

"Team Skull!" growled Drew. "I thought Wallace kicked you out of the Guild!"

"We're Team Skunk-up-in-Here!" Jessie yelled. "**TEAM SKUNK-UP-IN-HERE!**"

"What do you losers want?" May grumbled.

"Yeah!" Dawn added. "Don't you see we have more important things to worry about?"

"Who cares?" Conway smirked at Dawn. "Besides, if I can't have you... then we might as well have this!"

He was referring to the Relic Fragment, which Harley spat out and Conway picked up from the ground with his own teeth.

"If anyone deserves star billing, it's us!" Harley declared. "Team Skunk-up-in-Here, we're out!"

Harley, Jessie, and Conway then ran off, into the Lower Brine Cave. Drew took off after them without hesitation.

"Come back here!"

Dawn and May followed Drew out...

* * *

LOWER BRINE CAVE 1F

...but it didn't take long for them to lose sight of Drew and Team Skunk-up-in-Here.

"Darn Drew!" May complained. "That's just like him to tease and run!"

"I think we have bigger problems," Dawn said, pointing out the pair of Gastrodon heading their way.

"Looks like we're going to have to get down and dirty after all."

"Oh... and after I finally figured out how to get my Piplup hair to look just right this morning!"

Both of the Gastrodon had a '36' above their heads, while Dawn had a '33' and May had a '31,' all indicating their current levels.

* * *

LOWER BRINE CAVE 4F

"Team Skunk-up-in-Here is stealing the spotlight again!" the team's three members yelled as they ran past a Dragonair.

"Come back here, you cretins!" Drew yelled after them.

* * *

LOWER BRINE CAVE 6F

At some point, an exhausted Dawn and May finally got to the lowest floor in the cavern. It was there that they caught up to Drew, who was now holding the Relic Fragment. And to his right lied the now unconscious bodies of Team Skunk-up-in-Here.

"Just call us Team Skull," Jessie managed to mumble audibly enough for everyone to hear. "Less of a mouthful."

"You are incredible!" Dawn squealed delightfully as she ran over to Drew.

Dawn wrapped her arms around Drew and hugged him, unaware that May was starting to seethe with anger over seeing this scene. But Drew saw this, and the second Dawn let go of him, he flew over to May, dropping the Relic Fragment onto the cavern floor as he did. Drew tried to wrap his wings around her, but May quickly turned the other way, with her beak raised in the air.

"May..."

"If you think this is going to be resolved with a simple hug..."

Drew grabbed May by the shoulders, spun her back around so that they were facing each other, and before she knew it, Drew leaned forward and kissed her. May felt the rage inside of her subside as her muscles relaxed and the tingle of Drew's bird lips on hers sent goosebumps and shivers throughout her entire body.

Dawn applauded in the background as a tear or two dripped from her eyes. The sound of her clapping was Drew's signal to finally pull his face away from May's. But he didn't take his eyes off of hers, as they continued to stare longingly into the others soul.

"Forgive me now?" Drew asked, grinning.

May nodded, too stunned speechless to say anything.

"What a touching scene!" cooed the voices of two males and a female.

Instinctively, Dawn, May, and Drew turned towards Team Skull, but the three of them were still knocked out cold.

"Be glad it'll be the last one you have before we send you to the afterlife!"

This time, the three birds heard it coming from the entrance-way on the opposite side of the room, which they had just noticed for the first time.

Dawn, May, and Drew, the latter two holding hands, proceeded into the next room, and found a Kabutops and two Omastar waiting for them.

"Well, well, well," Omastar 'A' smirked. "Look who decided to show up!"

"And they've brought a familiar face," Omastar 'B' said, eyeing Drew.

Drew clenched his teeth, recognizing the Kabutops and the two Omastar.

"So we meet again... Team Galactic!"

"Team Galactic!" repeated Dawn and May together. "Not again!"

"The two Omastar are Mars and Jupiter," Dawn added, identifying them. "That must make the Kabutops..."

"Saturn," the third Galactic commander finished Dawn's sentence. "And we're not happy to see you street rats interfering with our plans once again."

"Cyrus may be gone," Jupiter remarked, "but that doesn't mean we can't handle a bunch of punks like you three!"

"So stand aside!" ordered Mars. "Or be forced to deal with the beating of a lifetime!"

"Your journey ends here and now!" exclaimed Saturn.

"Really?" Dawn yawned, unfazed by the commanders' threats.

"Why are you so cocky?" the trio asked.

"Because we came with some friends!" May said with a smile.

The other members of the Wigglytuff Guild charged into the room, and quickly surrounded Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter before they could react. Once assured Team Galactic had no escape route, Wallace himself entered the room. And next to him, was Ash, grinning toothily as he was holding a burlap sack... which he opened to show all of the Time Gears inside.

"You found all of the Time Gears!" Dawn stated matter-of-factly.

"Yep," Ash replied with a nod. "I assume you've found how to get to Temporal Tower?"

Dawn and May were both about to shake their heads, admitting they had not succeeded at that yet, but were cut off by Team Galactic.

"Temporal Tower, huh?" Saturn said. "Well, I guess they are here for the same reasons we are."

"Wait a minute!" Mars objected. "Why are you telling them that?"

"The writing's on the wall," Jupiter stated, siding with Saturn. "The Guild came in before we could battle them. Even with our strength, we don't stand a chance against such overwhelming numbers."

Mars gritted her teeth, refusing to give up so easily.

"I'm not giving up without a **FIGHT**!"

Mars turned her back towards Dawn and May and used Spike Cannon. The sharp spikes launched out of her back and flew in their direction. But just before they hit their target, Drew jumped in front of the girls. All of the spikes hit him, with a couple of them piercing his skin and becoming lodged in it.

"Grog!" Drew blurted out as he dropped to the ground.

"Drew!" May screamed. "**NOOOOO!**"

Everyone raced over to Drew's side, while Mars took the opportunity of confusion to escape. Saturn and Jupiter changed their minds on giving up and immediately followed her out.

"They're getting away!" Dawn growled, the first to notice so.

Dawn was about to chase after them, but Ash grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"I know that was a dirty trick," Ash said to her, "but we don't have time to worry about them right now!"

Dawn looked at the escaping Galactic commanders and watched as they disappeared from sight before finally realizing that Ash was right.

"He's seriously injured!" Wallace said after examining Drew. "We have to get him back to Treasure Town so his injuries can be healed!"

"Right!" all of the Guild members nodded in agreement.

May wanted to help, but she was stopped by Ash... as well as Wallace.

"I know what you're feeling right now," Wallace said to May, "but all of our best efforts to save his life won't matter if you don't help Dawn and Ash prevent time from stopping forever!"

"He's right," Ash agreed. "you have a higher calling right now."

May didn't want to agree. She wanted to be with Drew, and those feelings were amplified as she watched Brianna, Kelly, and the others prepare Drew, who was visibly suffering, for transport back to Treasure Town.

As May continued debating what to do, Zoey ran up to the group to give a report.

"We're ready to go on your orders," Zoey told Wallace.

"Very well," Wallace responded. "Move as soon as you're able. Anyone not carrying the gurney is responsible for warding off attackers."

"Yes, sir!"

Zoey ran back to finish helping move Drew to the gurney the group had just constructed. Wallace again tried to draw May's attention away from it.

"You must go with Dawn and Ash to restore Temporal Tower! That's an order!"

Wallace demanded May stay with Dawn and Ash, and on that order, May had no choice but to say yes.

"Understood."

The firm affirmation came just in time, as Zoey, Brianna, Kelly, and Nando began carrying Drew out of the chamber on a gurney, with the other Guild members keeping lookout in front and back of them. Wallace turned to Dawn, gave her a 'you're in charge' look, and followed them out.

"Wait a minute!" Dawn shouted. "You were supposed to help us find Hidden Land!"

At the sound of the words 'Hidden Land,' something inside the bag of Time Gears began to glow. Ash reached in and pulled out the Relic Fragment, which he had picked up from the floor in the previous room. It was glowing a bright sky blue.

At the same time, a similarly colored blue light shone from yet another just-now-spotted room beyond the one the trio was standing in.

"Could it be?" Ash asked aloud. "Could it be?"

Dawn grabbed May and pulled her towards the light, following Ash. They all squinted as they entered, not knowing what was on the other side.

But they did know the other side was where they wanted to go.

***** To be continued... *****


	10. Chapter Nine

LOWER BRINE CAVE 6F

Ash stepped into the bright blue light, shielding his eyes from being blinded. Dawn followed, tugging May with her, and they did the same.

After a few steps, the light dimmed, and the trio found themselves in a room. It was then they saw the source of the light... a group of cave drawings on the opposite wall. Dawn looked at them, then the ones that were glowing on the Relic Fragment.

"They look almost identical!"

Ash took a gander and came to the same conclusion. May stopped moping about Drew and realized what they were saying was the truth.

"This could only mean one thing," May said as she pulled her wing away from Dawn. "We've found the entrance to the Hidden Land!"

May walked over to Ash, took the Relic Fragment, and walked over to the glowing drawings on the wall.

"It is going to help us!" Dawn exclaimed. "Just like Newton said it would!"

May lined up the markings on the wall with those on the Relic Fragment. Once they were perfectly matched up, the trio felt the ground shaking underneath their feet. May stepped back, with the Relic Fragment still in hand, and watched as the wall parted before her.

As it pulled apart, they saw a lagoon appear before them. And waiting for them in it, with an entrance to the ocean lying behind her, was Lapras.

"You've finally come."

* * *

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

No theme song this week, we're just jumping right into it! So much to cover in only 22 KB of text...

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me. The song used in this chapter is property of their respective owners.

**-**  
**Chapter Nine (09.20.10)**  
**-**

Dawn, May, and Ash rode on Lapras' back, with May holding the Relic Fragment and Ash clutching the bag full of Time Gears tightly. Lapras was taking them to Hidden Land, where they would attempt to restore Temporal Tower and save the world.

"Thanks for the ride, Champion Cynthia!" thanked Dawn.

"It's what I do," Cynthia said in response.

"I wonder how Drew knew about those rotten Team Galactic commanders," scowled May. "He must have dealt with them before."

"Indeed he has. And it turns out the result of his first visit was exactly the same..."

* * *

_Flashback some unknown amount of time into the past..._

_Wallace and Drew were in the midst of a battle with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and it was a virtual deadlock, as all five of them were covered with cuts and bruises._

_"Ready to give up?" the Galactic commanders asked Wallace and Drew._

_"Evil will never triumph!" Wallace declared._

_"Yeah, what he said!" added Drew._

_"Fossil attack!" the commanders shouted._

_The three of them picked up fossilized ancient Pokémon remains from the ground and threw them at Drew. The one thrown by Saturn hit Drew in the head, while the ones thrown by the ladies hit him in stomach. But being hit all by three at once was more than enough to knock him out._

_"That's not even a legal move!" Wallace yelled._

_"We're Team Galactic!" Mars chuckled._

_"Since when do we do anything legal?" smirked Saturn._

_"Everything we do is a crime!" exclaimed Jupiter. "Heck, the shell I'm wearing was stolen from another Omastar just before you got here!"_

_"That's it!" growled the future Guild leader. "It's on!"_

_Wallace used Rollout and struck down the trio as if he was a pink bowling ball._

* * *

"After the evil ones were taken care of," Cynthia explained, "I entered and offered to help Drew get medical attention. So I took them to see Misty..."

"Misty?" Dawn gasped. "Ash's girlfriend, who was acting like she had a bug up her butt?"

"Not my girlfriend!" Ash shouted off-screen.

"Misty is a sweet, caring person," Cynthia said, before turning sad, "or was. Now..."

"She's a bitch?" May finished Cynthia's sentence.

"Not the word I was looking for, but... yes. Funny thing... she didn't turn all primal until a few weeks ago."

"When me and Ash came to this world the first time!" deduced Dawn. "Of course!"

"And that's why you two are the only ones who can get rid of this evil curse! Dawn and Ash, if you two fail, no one in this world will have a future!"

"Heh heh," Dawn chuckled nervously. "No pressure."

"Hey!" May objected. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

"On the contrary," Cynthia reassured, "you have a significant role in this too."

"Ha! I thought so!"

"You're the only one who can carry the Relic Fragment!"

"So I'm a glorified luggage cart?"

"You don't understand! It can only be owned by someone with a pure, innocent heart."

"Oh!" May brightened up. "When you put it that way..."

"Now I have an objection!" Dawn spoke up. "How am I not pure and innocent?"

"Have you **SEEN** how short your skirt is?"

"I don't get to pick out my outfits!" Dawn shouted in her defense.

"That's actually not why you can't hold it," corrected Cynthia.

"May!" Ash looked at her. "Did you eat that Golden Seed I left behind earlier?"

"No, I... wait, you left it behind **ON PURPOSE**?"

"Of course!" Cynthia smiled. "That will help jog May's memory, and it will explain to all of us why Dawn isn't pure and innocent!"

May reached into her backpack and pulled out the Golden Seed.

"Couldn't you just tell us?" Dawn asked Cynthia.

"That's not how it works," the champion replied.

"Just eat the seed and we can finally take care of this hanging plot point!" Ash shouted at May.

"Too late," Cynthia stopped them. "We've already arrived."

Everyone faced forward, and sure enough, they were approaching Hidden Land, an island in the midst of the time stream. May was forced to return the Golden Seed to her backpack for now.

"And there's your final destination," she added, lifting her head up so her nose could point into the sky.

The trio followed Cynthia's gaze and saw a white tower up high in the sky, surrounded by very, very dark clouds, from which thunder and lightning were being emitted.

"And that's Temporal Tower," Ash pointed out. "**THE** final destination!"

"That must be where we'll find Primal Misty," figured May.

"And... my ticket back to being human again," foreshadowed Dawn.

* * *

Once they had reached shore, Dawn, May, and Ash climbed down from Cynthia's back.

"There is one more thing before I let you go," Cynthia said to them.

"What?" they asked.

"Before I agreed to bring Wallace here to help heal Drew, I made them promise that they would never, ever reveal the location of Hidden Land to anyone... ever!"

"So that explains why they **CLAIMED** to not know where this place was," May said aloud.

"So we've got to promise the same before you let us go?" Dawn figured out.

Cynthia nodded. The trio looked at each other, and quickly nodded in agreement.

"We promise to never reveal the location to Hidden Land!" the three of them declared.

"Very well then. Good luck to you all! The future is in your hands!"

With that, Cynthia turned around, and head back out to sea. Seconds later, she disappeared, never to be seen again.

"I guess the only way to go is forward and up!"

Dawn led the group into the ruins of Hidden Land, heading upward towards the entrance to Temporal Tower.

* * *

OLD RUINS

After a long and harrowing trek through the ruins of Hidden Land, which was full of very powerful Pokémon like Tropius, Garchomp, Dragonite, and Abomasnow, the Rescue Team finally arrived at the oldest part of the ruins, located at the highest point of the island. But, to their dismay, they still found themselves looking straight up at cloud-covered Temporal Tower. And there was no visible path up there.

"Now what?" May asked. "I doubt Dawn or I have the strength to fly all the way up there. Not to mention we certainly can't carry Ash's fat a.."

"Actually," Ash cut her off. "There is only one way up there."

Ash went to a stone with Unown language on it and quickly deciphered it.

"The Cobra Starship!"

_[Dawn and May start singing, out of the blue]_  
_I make them good girls go bad._  
_I make them good girls go bad._  
_You were hanging in the corner with your five best friends._  
_You heard that I was trouble but you couldn't resist  
I make them good girls go bad._  
_I make them good girls go..._  
_[Singing abruptly ends]_

"Oops, sorry," Ash interrupted. "I meant the Rainbow Stoneship! I guess I should've mentioned that I can only translate Unown text at a third-grade level."

"As opposed to a first-grade level of common sense?"

The trio turned around, and gasped in shock when they saw Cyrus the Dusknoir and his sextet of Galactic Sableye grunts was with him.

"Misty's the only one allowed to insult me like that!" Ash yelled at Cyrus. "And... how did you manage to get back here to the present?"

"How we got here is not important!" Cyrus yelled. "The fact of the matter is, our glorious Queen Misty refuses to let you wreak havoc on the time stream any further!"

"Who died and made her queen?" growled May.

"Nobody and herself. Because that's how good she is!"

"Did you all bump your head against a stone rock or something?" yelled Dawn. "If we don't get up to Temporal Tower and stop it from collapsing, the world will be frozen in time forever!"

"Yeah!" added Ash. "And then I'll never be able to be the lead character again!"

"**ASH!**" everyone yelled.

"Can't blame a guy for trying," Ash shrugged his shoulders.

"Just figure out how we get on that Rainbow Stoneship!" Dawn shouted. "May and I will take care of Cyrus!"

"Got it!"

Ash ran over to another Unown-laden stone, knelt before it, and start attempting to translate. The Sableye sprang into action, heading towards him.

"**STOP!**"

The shout had come from Cyrus, and the grunts instantly stopped in their tracks. The girls looked at him, wondering why he had halted his men.

"Let him be," Cyrus said. "Besides, even if he figures it out, there's no way I'm letting him or his groupies set one foot on that stoneship!"

"Groupies?" Dawn and May yelled. "We are **NOT** his groupies!"

"Regardless of what you two are," Cyrus frowned as he turned to face them, "your quest ends here and now!"

The Sableye surrounded Cyrus and the girls, taking position as wrestling lumberjacks, whose job was to keep anyone from running away from the ensuing battle.

"I challenge you two to a Pokémon battle!"

"Bring it!" the two girls shouted.

"Shadow Sneak!"

Cyrus' shadow stretched out behind the girls, then rose up from the ground and kicked May in the tail feathers. May fell forward, hitting the ground chin first.

"Bubble!" Dawn attacked in retaliation.

Dawn shot a small stream of bubbles at Cyrus, and they hit its target. Unfortunately, it did relatively little damage.

"My turn!" May growled as she stood back up. "Ember!"

May launched a fireball at Cyrus. Again, he took the hit, but it had little effect.

"Ugh! He's as tough as he looks!"

"What did you expect?"

"Shadow Sneak!"

Cyrus used Shadow Sneak again, this time going after Dawn.

"**EEEEEKKKKK!**"

* * *

As the battle continued, Ash was hard at work trying to translate the Unown-language stone before him.

"Let's see," he said, trying to remember his rules of translation, "I before E, except after C. Or when it sounds like an A, as in neighbor and weigh."

* * *

"Will-o-Wisp!"

Cyrus fired a blue flame at Dawn, which hit her in her left wing. Dawn cried out in pain, the flame leaving behind an excruciating burn mark as it dissipated.

"Sand attack!" May yelled.

May found a patch of dirt on the ground right in front of Cyrus, and kicked into his eyes.

"Argh!" Cyrus shouted. "Cheap shot!"

* * *

Back with Ash, who seemed to be making progress...

"'If Train A is 200 miles west of the station and is traveling at a speed of 50 miles an hour and Train B is 90 miles east and slugging along at 20 miles an hour, when should Train C leave the station so that it crashes into Train A two miles away if Train C can accelerate to its top speed of 100 miles an hour in 2.5 seconds? And for extra credit, what's the conductor of Train B eating... for lunch?'"

Ash scratched his head, and after a few seconds, hesitantly voiced an answer.

"Um... bacon and eggs?"

* * *

"Technical Machine of Doom!" Cyrus yelled, as he curled his hands in the shape of a ball in front of his chest. "**HYPER BEAM!**"

Cyrus fired, but Dawn and May somehow managed to jump out of the way in the nick of time. As did the Sableye standing right behind the girls, acutely aware for once. The hyper beam ended up hitting a bunch of random stones in the ruins, one after another, each of which had different pictures on them. It went through stones depicting Mew, Kyogre, Groudon, Palkia, Dialga, and Pokémon Ranger Solana, before finally fading away.

"Hit 'im while he's weak!" May called out to Dawn.

A '43' appeared above Dawn's head. She pumped her fists in fury.

"Excellent! Time to debut my most spectacular move! The **DEUS EX MACHINA**!"

Cyrus gasped. "You don't mean..."

"**HYDRO PUMP!**"

Dawn blasted a huge horizontal tower of heavily-pressurized water at Cyrus. The attacked knocked Cyrus to the ground and left him barely conscious and unable to retaliate in any shape or form.

"We did it!" the girls exclaimed, as they high-fived each other.

"I got it!" Ash suddenly yelled, drawing the girls' attention.

Ash was now standing on the other side of the stone he had been reading, where there was a familiar-shaped indentation.

"The Relic Fragment! May!"

May understood and flew over, with the Relic Fragment in wing. The Sableye stepped aside, as they had noted the battle was over, and May reached Ash unimpeded. Dawn was about to join them, but then she heard Cyrus trying to say something to her.

"Don't..." he uttered weakly. "Don't!"

"Don't what?" Dawn glared at him.

"Don't let them put the Relic Fragment in! **DON'T LET THEM PUT IT IN!**"

May was about to do just that when she and Ash heard Cyrus' yelling, and she voluntarily stopped her movement.

"If you insert the Relic Fragment, sure, the Rainbow Stoneship will appear. But the action of doing so actually changes the future! The future that I'm from, as well as Ash and Dawn! Changing the future changes all of our roles, which means the current versions of us, as well as everyone else from the future, will cease to exist the second the Relic Fragment is inserted!"

May felt conflicted as she glanced at Ash right next to her, then over to Dawn. Ash looked lost as to what to tell May to do. But Dawn...

"Do it, May!"

"What?"

"By coming here to your time, Ash and I sent your world spiraling down to its dismal last moments! If saving your world means the end of my existence... then so be it!"

After hearing Dawn's willingness to sacrifice herself, May smiled.

"I hope you find happiness," May said to all of them, "no matter what the future holds."

With that, May slammed the Relic Fragment into the stone, and it instantly lit up with a multitude of colors.

"**NOOOOOOO!**" Cyrus screamed.

Cyrus and his six Sableye instantly faded away, disappearing from the present time period forever. Ash followed soon after, but he didn't leave without some parting words...

"Don't forget to eat the Golden Seed!"

And with that, Ash also exited the story. The second he was completely gone, the Rainbow Stoneship appeared to May's right. It resembled a Viking ship, only it had several pairs of angel-like wings on it and it was enveloped by the colors of the rainbow.

"Don't worry," May said with determination. "I'll make sure all of your sacrifices weren't in vain, guys!"

"Me too," Dawn said, walking up beside her, carrying the bag of Time Gears.

"Gah!" May jumped back. "Why are you still here?"

"Dunno," Dawn shrugged. "I guess I can't leave until it really is all over."

"Very well then... ready to do this?"

"I've been ready since PUSA became TPCI!"

A boarding plank appeared before the girls, and they climbed aboard.

"Welcome aboard the Rainbow Stoneship!" a female voice greeted them.

"That sounds like Alice from the Darkrai movie!" recognized Dawn. "That means our side quest of having a guest appearance from a character from every movie in the series is complete!"

"Now we can focus on saving the world!" May said with a smile.

The girls buckled up, and the Rainbow Stoneship lifted off from Hidden Land. It then bolted for Temporal Tower, flying at a speed faster than sensible to the human eye...

* * *

Or the Pokémon body, as a second later, the Rainbow Stoneship appeared at the entrance to Temporal Tower. The girls unbuckled and descended off of the boarding plank and onto the tower's cloud floor. They glanced at each other one last time, making sure they were physically and mentally prepared for what they were about to face.

They then stepped into the final dungeon, as thunder and lightning sounded off to announce their entrance.

Or, they would have, as they were suddenly teleported out of the blue from there to...

* * *

TEMPORAL PINNACLE

The top of the tower, where Primal Misty smirked at their arrival.

"Ahem..." she coughed, before yelling at Dawn and May at the top of her voice, "**WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?**"

"Don't try and fool us!" May defiantly replied. "You froze time and carried us all the way up here, and then restarted time!"

"No matter! I won't let you destroy Temporal Tower!"

"Destroy?" Dawn glared at Primal Misty. "Listen, you washed-up has-been! We're trying to **SAVE IT, NOT DESTROY IT**!

"**YOU WILL PAY FOR LYING TO ME!**"

"**DO YOU HAVE COTTON IN YOUR EARS? WE'RE TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD!**"

Primal Misty charged right for May, and hit her with Dragon Claw before she could raise a wing to protect herself. May was hurt badly by the attack, and she felt a huge surge of pain in her left wing, which was the one she had raised in her failed block attempt.

"May!" Dawn shouted.

"Worry about yourself!" Primal Misty yelled.

A huge bolt of thunder rained down from the sky, and if not for Dawn's quick reflexes to jump out of the way, it would have fried her on the spot.

"What the..."

Dawn glanced up into the dark clouds, and to her surprise, she saw an angry, black-colored Primal Pikachu already charging up for another use of Thunder.

"How'd you get Pikachu to work for you?" Dawn asked. "That's so unfair! He's, like, godly!"

Misty snickered. "Simple. I promised him the largest bottle of ketchup in existence! And a bottomless one, to boot!"

"**CHUUUUUUUU!**"

Primal Pikachu fired another blast of Thunder at Dawn, and again she dodged, although this miss was not by much, as it was inches from striking the tip of her right wing.

"This isn't even how the story goes!" Dawn cried out.

Dawn ran all over the battlefield, dodging one bolt after another, though Primal Pikachu's accuracy was improving with each attempt. It would only be a matter of time before he got her. Meanwhile, May, struggling to get back in the fight, desperately reached for her backpack to pull out a seed to help her recover her strength.

She ended up pulling out the Golden Seed, mistaking it for a Heal Seed. Not that she could tell the difference, as all of the seeds looked very much alike. Upon swallowing it, May felt all of her strength coming back to her.

But she also felt a rush of forgotten memories rushing back as well, including most importantly...

* * *

_M MIDDLE SCHOOL - Three years ago_

_May began to glow white again. She freaked out when she noticed that she was being lifted off the ground. She lowered her hands to keep her skirt down, which was threatening to flap up with the wind blowing through the air._

_"Sorry..." Dawn said as she got up and waved farewell to May. "There's only one trip back to the world of Pokémon every 50 years. And it's always one-way!"_

_"No! Wait, I changed my mind! I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go!"_

_May kept crying 'I don't wanna go' as she flew higher and higher into the air. Dawn watched as May got further and further away. She kept watching until she couldn't see May or hear her voice anymore._

* * *

TEMPORAL PINNACLE - Present day

"When I was sent back here," May thought out loud. "I must've gotten amnesia somehow and completely forgotten that whole adventure! But now that I remember, I finally understand!"

May got back to her feet and drew her attention back to the battle. Dawn was still running, in fear of her life, from Primal Pikachu's attacks, while Primal Misty laughed with glee. And to make matters worse, the floor beneath all of them was starting to crack apart, as the foundation underneath them began to shake.

"I know what I must do!" May's eyes narrowed.

A '43' appeared above May's head, and on cue, she learned her most powerful attack.

"**I'M GONNA GET YOU, DAWN, FOR SENTENCING ME TO THREE YEARS OF IRRELEVANCE!**"

May used Flamethrower, and an intense blast of fire made its way from her mouth and towards Dawn, who had her gaze skyward as Primal Pikachu fired what seemed to be about his 20th attempt to hit with Thunder. Finally, Primal Pikachu had enough foresight to stop aiming where Dawn was and to start firing where he thought she was going to be.

Unfortunately, Dawn didn't look as if she had expected it, as by the time she tried to predict the attack's landing point, she realized it was too late to avoid getting hit. But at the same exact same time, she noticed Flamethrower coming at her from her right side, making her situation even more hopeless.

"So this is how it ends..." Dawn thought to herself. "I'm going to die, and with me... goes the show..."

***** To be concluded... *****


	11. Epilogue

**May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice**  
**Story Written by Freedom Fighter**

And so we've reached the end...

Disclaimer: The characters of Pokémon and the 'Mystery Dungeon' concept belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA, not to me.

**-**  
**Epilogue (09.27.10)**  
**-**

Dawn stood frozen in place, the end inevitable, as one of Primal Pikachu's blasts of thunder was coming down from the sky, heading straight for her head, while May's Flamethrower barreled towards her from the right. She had exhausted her bag of tricks, and she already was seeing her failure as the eradication of the last safety measure keeping the world alive.

But, at the last possible second, Dawn was knocked out of the way, and she flew clear across to the other side of the platform, landing on the ground stomach first and sliding almost all the way to the edge before skidding to a stop just inches short of a descent into nothingness.

Almost immediately afterward, a loud, screeching cry of agony could be heard, as Thunder and Flamethrower struck Dawn's savior simultaneously. At that point, May realized that Dawn had been saved from an apparent death blow, and her rage subsided as she came to realize that her attack, as well as Primal Pikachu's, had hit a different target instead.

That target? Primal Misty.

"What the..."

May watched as Primal Misty winced in pain and dropped to her knees. She had numerous burn marks all over her skin, and electricity was still visibly coursing along the outside of her body, paralyzing her. Primal Misty was still conscious, but she was in no condition to keep fighting, in her delusional thoughts of trying to protect Temporal Tower.

Seeing Primal Misty incapacitated, May turned her attention to Dawn, who was also hurting badly as she tried to use her wings to push herself up off of the ground. May smiled... she was going to get another chance to exact her revenge.

"Do you remember me now?" May asked as she walked towards Dawn. "Huh?"

Dawn managed to get to her feet and shake her head in response.

"I still don't know what you're talking about, May!"

Suddenly, Temporal Tower began to shake violently. Dawn quickly peered over the edge and saw that the tower was starting to sway back and forth, as its foundation was crumbling beneath them. She then turned her gaze up to the sky, and although Primal Pikachu had stopped hurling Thunder at her, he was now firing the large bolts around the tower at random. And then, Dawn turned her attention back to May... who at that moment happened to be walking past a certain burlap sack.

"The Time Gears!" Dawn shouted.

Upon hearing those words, May stopped her march, and looked to her left to see the aforementioned sack on the ground, and one of the Time Gears sticking out of the top.

"Whatever issues we have," Dawn cried out, "can we handle **AFTER** we save the world? Because I'm pretty sure the apocalypse is now!"

More shaking and swaying caused Dawn to lose her footing and fall flat on her face. Seeing this, May had to make a quick decision... kill Dawn, or save the world.

"You owe me!" May shouted.

May picked up the bag of Time Gears and raced to a jagged pillar in the ground on the other side of the platform as fast as her chicken legs could carry her. On her way over there, May raced by Primal Misty, who couldn't do anything other than watch the end of the world unfold.

May reached the pillar and noticed on the side that there were five indentations in it to fit four gears, though they were all the same size. She pulled one Time Gear out and went to placed it, then did the same for the other three.

"There! That should... what?"

May took another glance at the open sack and realized that there was still one Time Gear left. And the shaking and swaying of the tower hadn't stopped. Nor had the thunder raining down from the dark sky.

"One more? But where?"

May looked at the pillar again, and didn't see room for a fifth gear. That is, until she looked a few feet up, towards the top, and saw a place for a gear to be inserted that she had missed before. May grabbed the last gear and got on her tiptoes, trying to reach up and put the gear into its slot.

But she just couldn't reach it...

"No, no, no, **NO!**"

Then, without warning, May felt herself being lifted up off of the ground. She glanced down and saw that Dawn had gotten underneath her and had pushed May up so that her feet were now standing on her own shoulders.

"Do it!" Dawn shouted, her wings already quaking under holding May up, "I don't know how long I can hold you... up!"

May didn't waste time with a verbal response, as she took the final Time Gear and, now at the height of the indentation, placed it and then pushed it in. And just in time, too, as Dawn's wings gave out. Dawn fell on her back, and May landed on top of her, leaving both of them staring at each other s feet.

"Did... did we do it?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah," May gasped in exhaustion. "We did it."

The girls had managed to put all of the Time Gears in, which should have stopped the world from self-destructing. But it seemed that nothing had changed. The tower was still teetering towards collapse, and dark clouds still filled the sky.

"It didn't work!" the two girls yelled with distraught.

"Oh, yes it did!"

The two girls turned to look at Primal Misty. Although she had somehow managed to get to her feet, the dark aura that had been surrounding her body had completely disappeared.

"She's white!" Dawn and May shouted in unison. "Does that mean..."

Misty smiled, as her whole body began to sparkle.

"I'm no longer a slave to the darkness," Misty said to them. "Oh, and that the world has been saved from extinction."

Misty then used Roar of Time, growling loud enough for her roars to reverberate not only within the vicinity of the tower, but throughout the whole world. As her powerful time-affected cry made its way to every part of the world, things began returning to normal. The time stream was restored, and areas that had become frozen in time came back to life. Pokémon unlucky enough to be in one of those zones also were able to move again, none the wiser about all the time that had passed in their statue-like state.

At Temporal Tower, all of the rumbling stopped, both in the sky and beneath the girls' feet. The dark clouds dissipated, and with them, Dark Pikachu disappeared. The sun became visible, and its bright rays brightened up the day sky. As for the tower itself, it had been stopped just short of completely falling apart, and thus, it continued to stand, albeit with a weakened foundation that left the tower still fairly unstable.

"We did it!" Dawn and May screamed.

They grabbed each other by the wings and started dancing around in circles.

"We did it, we did it, we did it, we did it..."

But as they danced, the tower shook with every joyful footstep.

"**KNOCK IT OFF!**" Misty yelled at them. "The tower may not be trying to take itself out anymore, but you two might still do the job with your big feet!"

The girls stopped, afraid about dooming the world if their dance of elation had resulted in the weakened tower falling down anyway.

"Temporal Tower will need time to rebuild itself," Misty explained, "but it's out of immediate danger. And for that, I thank you both."

"You're welcome, Misty," May said to her. "And, may I say, it's glad to see you back to your old self again."

"I know, right?" Misty winked back. "Though I still am not quite sure of why I was consumed by the darkness and tried to allow the death of the world to happen."

"I know why."

May turned around and glared at Dawn.

"Now, come on!" Dawn said in her defense. "How was **I** supposed to know that traveling through time would rip the time-space continuum to the point of destruction?"

"You'd know that if you watched a sci-fi movie!" reprimanded May. "Seriously, don't time travel! It screws over everyone!"

"I guess I learned my lesson."

"Wait!" Misty interrupted. "I was consumed by darkness **BEFORE** Dawn and Ash went into the past. So she's not ultimately responsible for all of this!"

"Yeah!" Dawn cheered. "So that means May has no reason to kill me anymore!"

"One problem," May growled, "that's **NOT** why I want to kill you!"

"Wha? Why?"

"Three years ago, when you replaced me in the anime series, you got rid of me by sending me back to the Pokémon world. **AGAINST MY WILL!**"

"What?" Dawn freaked. "I would never do that!"

"Well, you did! And now, I'm going to get my revenge for that day!"

"By **KILLING** me? How is that fair?"

May jumped on Dawn and wrapped her hands around the latter's neck. She tried to strangle her to death.

"Die, die, die!"

Dawn's eyes started to roll back, as the final battle had worn her out and she had no strength left to fight back. Luckily for her, Misty came to her rescue, as she trotted over and gently nudged May off of her.

And by nudged, that is to say, head-butted May off of Dawn.

"Alright, knock it off!" Misty shouted.

"What the..." May yelled at Misty. "How can you **DEFEND** what Dawn did? Besides, don't you have as much a beef as me? You didn't even make it into the original story!"

"That's because I chose to **NOT** be in it! And besides, the fact that you know that this is all a story means you know it **WASN'T** Dawn's choice to send you flying off three years ago!"

"What?"

"She was told to send you back here to the Pokémon World! It was her job! She got paid to do it!"

"That doesn't absolve her of fault, y'know!"

"The point is," Dawn cut in, able to talk again after catching her breath, "I did it not because I don't like you, but because the writers of the show had to think of a way to successfully have fans forget you and accept me."

"They didn't want a repeat of the uproar that happened when you replaced me," Misty said to May. "You have **NO** idea how well that went over."

"Well, that's just mean!" grumbled May.

"That's showbiz," Misty told her. "I grew too old for the role, and I got replaced. The same thing happened to you, as will happen to Dawn, and the next girl, and the girl after her..."

"Yeah!" Dawn nodded in agreement, before realizing what Misty said, "Wait... what? **I'M GETTING REPLACED?**"

"I don't see how that's a good thing," May said hesitantly.

"Be glad you're not Ash," chuckled Misty. "He'll be ten years old forever. He'll be a prepubescent boy forever."

"Well," May finally caved, "I do want to grow up eventually..."

"That's the spirit!"

"Hold on," Dawn got in between the two of them, "what's this about me getting replaced again?"

Before Dawn could get an answer, though, she began to glow a bright white. Shortly thereafter, May and Misty's bodies started glowing as well.

"What's going on?" Dawn asked.

"We've all fulfilled our purpose in the Pokémon universe," Misty explained. "That means..."

"We're getting written out," May finished. "For real this time."

"What?" Dawn looked at them. "But my time in the show isn't over yet!"

"It is in Japan, Hikari-chan!" Misty and May exclaimed in unison.

The three girls began rising up into the sky, as they were being whisked out of the Pokémon universe and into the realm... of obscurity.

"I don't wanna go!" Dawn started to shout. "I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go!"

"Ah, that brings back memories," May smiled with relief.

"I know, right," added Misty contently.

"I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go!"

The three girls continued to be lifted skyward, rising higher and higher, until their forms couldn't not be seen by the naked eye from the planet's surface. And with that, Dawn joined Misty and May in the beloved group of 'female anime leads whom Ash will never see again.'

Except in fanfiction...

***** The End *****

***Author's Notes and Minor Commentary***  
And that, folks, is how "May's Expedition 2: Dawn's Choice" comes to a conclusive end! Although not as popular as the original, I still think I managed to bring the same level of hilarious insanity as the first edition, and I hope you all agree in that respect.

Just like the original, there were a lot of characters that were appearing in a story of mine for the first time. In this case, specifically, the Sinnoh League castmates outside of Dawn. It didn't help that Dawn had a few less memorable characters than May did, but those that did get into this story played fitting roles, I think.

As with the original, be on the lookout sometime in October when I release a 'Platinum' edition of this story on my website, Freedom Fighter's Library (see link on my profile page)! To be included in the release... uncut scenes and chapters, a guide to every single joke and reference, and more! Go to my profile page or follow my Twitter (freefightwriter), as I'm now on there too, for up-to-the-date information on when that gets released.

With all of that said, thanks for reading! Please take the time to leave a review, regardless of whether you liked it or not. I try my best to reply to all reviews, even if just to say thanks!

Until the next time...

- Freedom Fighter


End file.
